Shattered Fate
by Lenaleelee17
Summary: Lenalee Lee plays Paige Heartfilia, Lucy's younger sister, in their new adventure as wizards. But with an exorcist in a wizard guild, how long will her search for fairies last?
1. Prologue: The Runaway

**Lucy's P.O.V.**

I packed my clothes and essentials in my suitcase, and my sister's in hers. They were small bags, so they don't make too much noise. I grabbed the doorknob and quietly opened the door. It was dark, especially since it was the dead of night. It got especially dark in the mansion, since the servants turned off all the lights and shut the curtains.

I looked around every wall, trying to view and picture as best as possible the photographs and paintings hanging from the walls, taking everything in as I carefully tiptoed through the halls. I spent my whole life in this house, it felt weird just leaving like this. _It's not something I really want to do, but it's something that I have to do; that_ we _have to do_. I stopped and looked back, just for a moment. _I'm gonna miss all the servants here. They've been so kind to the both of us_. I hated the thought of having to abandon the memories we made here with mom most of all. However, we had to move on. I finally arrived at the top of the staircase, leading down three floors to get to the main hall, where I could find the door to the outside.

I picked up the suitcases. I slowly and quietly went down the flights of stairs, going down each step carefully so as to not make any noise. _It's so dark, I wish I'd brought a flashlight._

I could just barely see each step down. I finally saw down at the last couple of steps as I tiptoed down to the ground floor. I walked down another hall, taking one last look at all the artwork and vases as I reached the main hall. I turned towards the door, but I didn't walk to it yet.

First, I turned back toward the main fireplace. My sister, my mother and I used to play in front of it all the time. I looked up, passed the decorations and vases put on top of the fireplace and took a final look at the portrait hung on the wall. The ones in the painting were my mother, my father and myself when I was a child. My younger sister wasn't here for the painter that day. Of course, we never thought she'd ever come home, at that point. It was such a blessing when she did. And she grew up so much. _Her birthday's coming up too_. She'd be turning seventeen in February, just next month. I just turned eighteen a couple of months ago.

I looked up at my younger self and smiled a little. _I've grown a lot since then too_. If only she was in the picture though. We could've lived as a normal family but... "Tch!" Because of _him_ we couldn't. I continued my gaze and looked up to my mother. I look so much like her. I'm proud to be her daughter...

I felt like I should have been smiling, but instead, there were tears running down my face.

"I miss you," I whimpered softly.

I followed the path of my gaze and finally landed on the last person in the painting. My father. His orange hair pulled back as usual as he smiled at the camera. Even his eyes look cheerful. He changed when mom left us. And I hated him for it. _No, he was almost as bad before that too._

"It didn't have to be this way, but you left us no choice," I said quietly as I turned around and walked towards the large double doors.

I quietly opened one door, seeing the path that led through our family's garden. I closed the door behind me, muffling the sound with my hand as much as possible. I walked down the gravel path, looking up. _A full moon tonight. It's so bright at night_. I kept on walking down the dark path, only the moonlight shining my way.

Then I heard some rustling from the trees. I slowly walked the trees, trying to find out what made the sound. A silhouette of a girl emerged from them. I could see her hair swaying on her back as she walked closer and closer to me. When she stepped into the light, I could see her black hair, shoulder-length and most of it down with to small side pigtails on each side. Her violet eyes were glossy and shining in the moonlight. Her hands covered her mouth, covering her whimpering as well.

"I don't want to go back there," She said weakly, "I don't want to go home either." She coughed a bit, hands still on her mouth.

The teenager seemed to be wearing a double-breasted black jacket with dark red buttons all the way down and the crest of a rose-cross on the left side of her chest. Red outlined the coat's hem. She wore a ruffled red skirt as well as black flats and dark red anklets. There were two stigmata-like scars above her ankles.

I dropped the bags and went up to the girl, pulling her into an embrace. "Don't worry," I said soothingly, "We don't have to go back, sis. We're going to run away together. Away from the lives we've lived so far."

She looked me in the eyes, hers still flowing strong with tears. She nodded, and then looked at the suitcase next to mine. She picked it up and turned to look at me. I smiled at my little sister.

"Let's go, Paige."


	2. Chapter 1: Embarking On A New Adventure

**Happy's P.O.V.**

"Excuse me, sir?" Said the assistant conductor of the train.

"Natsu! We made it to Hargeon!" I yelled at my friend Natsu who lay flat on the floor holding his stomach, "Come on get up already!"

"Is he alright?" The man asked behind me.

"He's fine!" I answered, "This always happens when he travels!-"

"Never. I'm never riding a stupid train again," My spiky-pink- haired friend whined as he was about to throw up.

I walked out of the cart to see what was what. I'm curious as a talking blue cat and all. But then I remembered why we were here. "If our information's correct, we should find that Salamander somewhere in this town," I said, "Let's go!"

He simply whined in response. Natsu was hanging out the window next to the door. Then I heard the doors close and the train leaving. Natsu cried out as the train left the station.

"Oh-oh. There he goes."

 **•≈** **~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈•**

 **Paige's P.O.V.**

"What?! You mean to tell me there's only one magic shop in this whole town?" My dear sister Lucy asked the manager, quite upset for some reason.

The old man answered her, telling her that this was indeed the only shop in town. On the other side of the desk, Lucy sighed in disappointment. "I reckon most people in town don't even know how to use magic. I built this shop for the wizards who happen to be passing through," He added.

The blond sighed as she complained to herself, muttering something about 'having come all this way'. I went up to her to comfort her. I sighed as I shook my head, seeing her pout and look away from me.

"Don't worry little lady, I have all the latest goods. Let me show you a few," Responded the owner, trying to please my sister. He reached for his desk and took out a little pink box with a strange half-sphere crystal on it.

"This Colours magic is popular," He said, "All the young girls really seem to like it. It lets you change the color of your clothes anytime you want." The manager ran his finger around the semi-sphere and then his green clothes went from purple and back to green. I watched in astonishment as Lucy whined that she has one already. At that, I gave her a little annoyed stare. Lucy never leant me hers, so I decided to buy one myself. It might be interesting.

I looked back, seeing my older sister walking around the shop. She was looking over shelves and bookcases before finally admitting that what she came here for was a Celestial Gate Key. With the lack of products, it was obviously a rare request. She looked around a bit more, before settling her gaze on a small box. She gasped as an ear-to-ear grin etched her features, her eyes twinkling at the object. I walked next to her, and my heart skipped a beat.

"It's the little doggy!" We exclaimed. Both my sister and I have always wanted the key of Canes Minor, the 'Little Dog' or the 'White Dog'. They're such adorable little creatures.

"Yes, but that one's not very powerful, you know," The man said as-matter-a-factly.

"I know, but we really, really want it," Lucy begged as she took the box with the key inside to the counter. She found it quite pricy, slyly arguing that fact to the elder, who didn't pick up on the hints as he simply repeated the price generously. Then, she chose her alternative form of negotiation. She sat up on the front counter, 'casually' leaning sideways so that her feminine features would be prominent. Top and bottom.

"Oh come on," She soothed seductively, "How much is it really worth? Surely, you could cut me a deal~"

 ***_..._* ∆ ß √**

"I can't believe he only knocked off 1'000 jewel! That stubborn old geezer must be blind!" My blond sister grunted, stomping through the streets of Hargeon, with me, trying to keep up at a fast pace. She continued complaining afterwards, but I only half-listened, considering that she complains quite a bit when left disappointed.

But with her appearance (and personality) it would be easy to understand why she'd be so upset. She has a cute face, silky golden hair and bright chocolate eyes, always full of energy. She always knew how to cheer me up, simply seeing her smile always made me feel better. She also has an amazing figure that she loves to show off. From bust to behind, she has all the perks of being a female. And with her stylish clothes, she shows it off for others and (scary) men (and herself).

(I'm not unattractive myself) With black hair and violet eyes, I normally where dark colours to suit my petite figure. (I also make sure to always where knee-high socks at the minimum to cover the scars on my legs). Apparently, I'm shorter than most girls - around here, anyway - and I have yet to grow to 'appealing' size in the chest area - also mainly on this continent. But what I worry about most is covering up. Ever since I left, I've felt the need to cover the stigmata-like scars etched in my legs, just barely above my ankles. However, I could never muster the courage to take off my metallic red anklets. I need them for protection. I need them to protect others.

I chuckled and shook my head, looking up at Lucy, who had finally finished grumbling. "Now, now Lulu. I paid for half of it, and he gave me a deal too. And I finally got that Colours magic box, so I won't be asking for yours anymore!" I said cheerfully. I pressed on with my reassurance, nothing prevailing to calm her nerves. After abruptly stopping by a bridge, she stared out at nothing. It looked almost as if she was glaring through the buildings to incinerate them.

But then, we heard screaming in the distance. A lot of women calling out 'Salamander'. Slumping over the cobblestone rail of the bridge, I tried to gaze under it as much as possible. A group of women were standing in a ring around a certain man, most likely said 'Salamander', cheering out his name. Lucy had told me about Salamander before, apparently he was a powerful fire wizard. _Why would Salamander be in this town?_ _Such a famous wizard like him shouldn't actually be here, in a fishing town, unless on a job._ That, however, seemed somehow less likely, considering that it looked more like he was flirting with the women. _I never knew he had an interest in girls?_ It was never reported in Sorcerer Weekly - that my sister told me about. _Maybe he had a change of heart._

Pondering on the idea, two girls passed by us running and screeching as well about the infamous Salamander. That must be where they're headed in that type of a rush.

"Salamander?" Lucy muttered, "Isn't he the wizard who uses fire magic you can't even buy in stores? Wow!" She gasped in delight. "He's in this dead end town?" She then asked in revelation that a famous wizard is in this little port town where barely anyone even knows how to use magic.

 **•≈** **~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈•**

 **Happy's P.O.V.**

After retrieving my friend from the clutches of the torturous rattling of the fast train across the railway, we finally made it to an alleyway in Hargeon, where we'd hoped to find the Salamander. But Natsu was still wobbly from the train ride. Any type of moving vehicule always made Natsu sick. The poor guy's belly just can't handle it. If only he could find a way to suppress it for a few seconds, just to get off the train.

"Aw, man," My pink-haired friend groaned as he walked in an arched position, trying to keep his balance, "I ended up ridin' the train twice."

Grumbling under his breath about being starved, we walked across the alley of houses. I looked up at the lighter areas of the buildings, admiring them after looking up at the beautiful light blue sky. Only a few marshmallow clouds were floating around. _Oh look! There's one that looks like fish! Ooohhh~ how I could go for a good fish right now. Too bad we don't have any money for food. Right now, I would give anything for a single bite of salmon._

"Hey, Happy? This Salamander we're looking for has gotta be Igneel, right?" He asked, still dizzy from his train ride.

"Aye, it has to, because the only fire dragon I've ever heard of _is_ Igneel."

"That's true."

We stopped abruptly as we heard girls screaming in the distance, squealing 'Salamander'. They all seemed really excited, and so are we.

"Salamander?!" We yelled. We started running, a full sprint, putting everything we could into moving our legs fast. I had a bit of difficulty catching up to him though. But I didn't want to ruin his moment.

"Well speak of the devil! We're in luck today, Happy!" Natsu said, now completely revived.

 **•≈** **~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈•**

 **Paige's P.O.V.**

Even though she was confused about the fire wizard being in this town, she still wanted to go see him. Those were her words, which turned out to be an understatement, seeing that I was dragged here in a double sprint all the way to the crowd of girls.

Cold sweat dropped from my forehead as I craned my neck up to look at Lucy. She seemed to be attempting to look over the crowd - thankfully, more in curiosity than yearning - on her tip toes, peeking over the girls' hairstyles.

I stood next to Lucy, attempting the same, but failing miserably. Once again, it seems I am below average height on this continent, seeing that I couldn't even look over their abnormal hairstyles - many I've never seen before - simply to see his. I must also consider the fact that my eye-level only reaches to the peak of their jawline (most of them), so even jumping may not work.

I grabbed my sister by the wrist, pushing through the crowd to get at least a bit closer. After going through many clothes, figures and smelly perfumes, we arrived right in front of the famous fire wizard.

The Salamander stood in the middle of a big crowd of girls including Lucy and myself. All of them were staring at him with such admiration- no, affection, it was almost possible to see hearts forming in their eyes. _Is it because he's famous?_

"Hey, Lucy? Let's get out of here, it's pretty crowded, don't you think?" I asked, tugging at her arm gently. "Lucy?" I repeated, but I didn't get any response. I looked at her, only to see her with her arms covering her chest in an 'X', with a pained, and almost desperate expression on her face. I called her name one more time in hopes of snapping her out of whatever trance she was in. Then, she started walki- I mean - hopping towards the blue-haired Salamander.

"Lucy!" I cried. I caught up to her to try and drag her out. I took a closer look at the Salamander. He was wearing two strange rings, one was purple with a pink heart, and the other was blue with a sleeping moon. Why those were brought to my attention, I'm not sure, but they bothered me.

"Igneel! It's me!" A boy with wild pink hair suddenly cried. He seemed so hopeful, after having crawled through the crowd of woman surrounding the arrogant wizard.

"Who the heck are you?" Asked the pink-haired boy disapprovingly. The man was flabbergasted and utterly offended by the question. He introduced himself as Salamander, earning cries and swoons from the ladies. The pink-haired boy left, disgruntled. The girls, too, were offended - so offended - they suddenly tackled him to the ground, bending his body in ways that should not be possible.

"Now, now my pretties, I'm sure the poor boy didn't mean anything _malicious_ by it," said the Salamander proudly. The girls immediately returned their gaze to Salamander. Falling for his chatter once again.

I looked up at Lucy, who seemed to have finally snapped out of her trance. She was left to glare at the fire mage, her arms crossed - under her chest instead of over.

The man took out an autographed paper in a frame and showed it to the boy. He refused the offer, earning him more of a beating by the women.

"Well, I'm afraid I must be going ladies. I have business to attend to," The Salamander announced.

"You're leaving already?!" They all sang in unison.

With a snap of his fingers, he flew up into the air, standing only on the path of purple fire he conjured, reaching the ground up. "I'm having a soirée on my yacht tonight, and you're all invited!" He shouted as he left. My sister head toward the pink haired boy and I followed.

"Who the heck was that guy?" The boy asked confused.

"I don't know, but he was a real creep," My sister said, even though I don't think he was actually interested in an answer. Both the boy and the little blue cat that stood next to him turned their gaze to Lucy. "Thank you for your help!"

 ***_..._* ∆ ß √**

 **Lucy's P.O.V.**

As a thank you for snapping me out of that filthy man's charm, I brought the boy, Natsu, and the cat, Happy to a restaurant where they ate their lunch. I'm glad I got to help them out, since they were obviously starving, but I'm not sure it was worth having so much food and juice being splashed onto myself and Paige. _Honestly! People these days need to work on proper curtesy toward others, especially strangers._

But now, Paige and I sat on a bench, reading _Sorcerer Weekly_ , the weekly magazine that tells us everything about magic guilds. I mainly started reading it to get my mind off of the charm spell I was drawn into by that pig, Salamander. Such a charm makes anyone - mainly of the opposite gender - make them think they're in love with the user. How he got forbidden magic like that is a creepy mystery. It's also strange that Paige didn't seem affected at all. And she didn't even know what had happened to me. When the person is aware that the wizard is using a charm, the spell breaks, but my sister wasn't even aware, barely aware of his ring. _I guess I shouldn't let myself be bothered by that, we've gotta focus on finding a guild to join._

I started reading the Weekly Sorcerer, giggling every so often as I read about the number one guild in Fiore, Fairy Tail. They have a reputation of destroying everything they come in contact with. Just recently, they destroyed an entire guild of bandits, but destroyed seven homes in the process. That made me laugh made head off. I turned the page, just as Paige joined me after my fit.

The next pages were the models representing the guild, featuring the beautiful Mirajane of Fairy Tail. She's a gorgeous woman, with pretty true blue eyes. And her face is so young, even her long white hair features her youthful figure. Fairy Tail is the guild we're aiming to join.

"We are so gonna join Fairy Tail. They're totally the coolest guild ever!" I cheer, and we both start giggling, Paige and I-

"What was that? You want to join Fairy Tail?" Chimed a familiar voice in the background. I jumped up in shock, his ugly face already infuriating me. Paige stared shocked, holding an arm of the bench.

"I've been looking all over for you. I wanted to _personally_ invite you to the party I'm having on my yacht tonight," He said, clearly showing off his rings.

"That charm spell won't work on me! That magic's weakness is awareness," I claimed, "It doesn't work on people if they know you're using it."

He chuckled; "Just as I thought, I guessed you two were wizards the moment I laid eyes on you. And you must have known all along, since you didn't seem to be affected at all,'' he said, while looking at my sister who was still sitting on the bench. She simply glared back at him, staying silent. "No matter. The invitation still stands."

"Well you can forget it. We wouldn't be found dead at a party run by a creep like you."

"A creep? Why would you call me that?" He asked innocently. I glared back at him, and then down at his rings. He smirked after having followed my gaze, "Don't be mad, my dear. It's all in good fun. I just wanted to feel like a celebrity at my own party. Can you blame me?"

"This only only proves that even famous wizards can be morons," Paige stated, her glare never ceasing its intensity.

"You wish to join the Fairy Tail guild, right?" The Salamander asked.

Paige and I gasped at the same time.

"Have you ever heard about Salamander, one of Fairy Tail's wizards?"

"Well yeah!" I cried. Paige was staring at him with wide eyes. "You're telling me you're him? You're _that_ Salamander?"

"That's right! And if you want to join, I could probably get in a good word for you."

This time, only I gasped. I didn't really care what Paige was doing, _We're gettin' into Fairy Tail, baby!_

"I would love to go to your party tonight!" I exclaimed. Happiness overflowed my very being. No matter what kind of a creep he is, he's still nice enough to let us join.

"You promise you'll get us into Fairy Tail, right?" Paige asked, uncertainly.

"But of course."

She smiled and nodded, signalling that she was going. He made us promise not to say anything about the charm spell, and he left on his 'red carpet' fire path. Both my sister and I start cheering and laughing, overjoyed by the news. But somehow, I also got an uneasy feeling from Paige. I'm not not she trusts him. I'm starting to believe she's already regretting saying yes.

 ***_..._* ∆ ß √**

 **Natsu's P.O.V.**

"Hee hee~! That was quite a meal, right Happy?" I said, happy with the meal that 'Looney' girl got us _(whatever her name might be)_. My little buddy agreed.

We looked into the ocean, as dark as the night sky, glimmering with the stars. Happy suddenly pointed out the yacht out in the water. My stomach suddenly churned, making me feel sick. Just the thought of riding a vehicle always made me wanna vomit. Happy then mentioned the party that weird 'Salamander' guy was having. Thank god we weren't invited. _Wait- he said we were all invited before he left. Did that include us?_

Not far away, three girls started talking about 'Salamander'. They admired the yacht with certain annoying squeals, but then they found out their friend didn't know who the fraud was. 'Salamander', yes, is a fire wizard. _Heh, quite "powerful" too._ But then they mention that he was a part of Fairy Tail. Catching my attention, I glared at the boat. _So that jerk flirting with the girls is a part of the Fairy Tail?_

 **•≈** **~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈•**

 **Paige's P.O.V.**

"Lucy and Paige, right? You have lovely names," The Salamander said.

"Yeah, thanks," Answered Lucy nervously.

We were at Salamander's 'soirée' on his yacht. Lucy wore her favorite burgundy dress- sleeveless and a slit in the skirt, climbing up till her thigh. Around her neck, she wore a matching burgundy choker. She didn't do up her hair, thinking it would be a waste of effort for this man.

I wore a black, three quarter sleeve-length dress, the skirt loose and the trim ended mid-thigh. Accompanied with violet 1" heels that matched the scarf-belt around my waist. On my ankles were my dark red anklets. I had asked Lucy to put my hair in a braid, simply because it would suit the outfit more.

The Salamander raised a bottle and poured himself a glass of wine, and two more that he slid towards us, "I'd like to toast your beauty," He said.

I smiled and simply pushed the glass away, "Sorry, I'm underage." _Well, it's not a lie._

"Oh? Is there something else you want then?" He offered, but I shook my head politely and thanked him. He may not be the finest of gentleman, but I can't be rude to him either.

He nodded and smiled in return. However, I could've sworn I heard him click his tongue, just barely. _It must've been my imagination._ He turned his gaze to Lucy, flashing her a charming smile. He snapped his fingers, and droplets of wine came out of Lucy's glass, hovering in the air.

"Open wide, Lucy. Savour the taste of the flavour from each drop as it enters your mouth," _Was he trying to sound poetic? Creepy-_

The droplets slowly drifted towards Lucy's unwillingly open mouth (it practically twitched because she was forcing so hard). But then something caught my eye. His raised hand was decorated with bling, the same two rings I saw earlier. Apparently the one with a pink heart was what triggered the charm spell. But he wore a second ring. One with a sleeping moon.

I raised my hand, giggling nervously. The drops stopped and Lucy closed her mouth relieved. "I may be a bit young, but no one has to know, right?" I said innocently, as I slowly reached for a glass. I lifted it up to my lips, close enough to be able to smell it. Before I could taste it, he took a hold of it, purposely placing his hand on mine rather than the glass.

"I'm sorry my dear, but that's actually my glass," he said. I apologized quickly, and I set the glass down on cue to his gentle pushing. He took another glass filled with wine and placed it next to Lucy's.

He was about to snap his fingers when I stopped him, placing my hand on his. And then I reached for my glass. I lifted it to my mouth. The sent itself isn't different, but there's something about it that seemed off. I took a sip.

 _WHAM!_

I slammed the glass back on the table. I stood up. After drinking that bit, I felt a rush of drowsiness go through my entire being. It quickly went away though. "A sleeping charm in our drinks, quite clever. I'm honestly a bit surprised."

Lucy stood up abruptly, glaring at the perplexed man. He glared at us, but me in particular. His face seemed to be contorted in an expression of both rage and confusion, completely obliterating his already _charming_ reputation. "Why aren't you falling unconscious, little girl?"

Lucy glared at him in disgust, but remained calm all the same. "What were you trying to do? I thought you were going to let us join Fairy Tail!" She cried.

His expression calmed, but his gaze had suddenly gone dark. And then he started chuckling, "You're quite a handful, aren't you?" With a wave of his hand, the curtains that were closing us off from the rest of the party suddenly flew open. It revealed a group of men, holding the invited women in their arms. They all had devious grins on their faces. We looked around in a panic. _How did we get into this mess?_

"Welcome aboard my ship," He said menacingly, "You'd be wise to behave yourself until we make it to Bosco. Don't make me angry.''

"We're going to Bosco!" My sister asked, frightened.

He chuckled and claimed that the only reason he brought us was so that we would be used as slaves. _Of all the evil plans that I've heard, this one is quite... boring, actually._ This ruled out the possibility of Salamander working for _him_ at least.

"How could you?" Lucy muttered through her teeth, "You're going to kidnap all these girls?" She then took out her gate keys. Salamander shot fire towards her hands and knocked the keys right out of them, catching them himself.

"These are gate keys. So you're a Celestial wizard? Only the wizard who is contracted can use this magic. So these are absolutely useless to me," The Salamander threw her keys out the window and into the ocean. I ran towards it, but only to see the set sink deeper into the deep blue water. _How could he?_ I could feel myself tense up. Those keys were special to Lucy, and he just tossed them without a second thought. I still had my set, but Lucy was the one who let me be a Celestial wizard by her side. _I've never even summoned a spirit before. Do I even have enough magic energy to open a stellar gate yet?_

"You used magic to take advantage of others," I heard Lucy cry, "You're the worst wizard alive!" I looked back at her. Her eyes were red, and tears poured down in waterfalls.

A big crash suddenly erupted from the ceiling at that moment. I gasped in shock when I saw the cause of the giant explosion. The bright pink hair is what caught my eye. "Natsu?"

He flashed a grin in my direction, and was about to say something, but he suddenly collapsed! He doubled over, one hand on his mouth, and the other over his stomach, and his face was scrunched as if he were in pain. _Motion sick? We are on a boat._

"Hey, what are you doing here Lucy?" Said a familiar high-pitched voice. Above in the hole Natsu created, a little blue cat hovered over us. And with white wings sprouting from his back? _This world is weird: overly motion sick men with blossom-pink hair and blue cats named 'Happy' with wings... Talk about a universe of surprises._

A couple of men started charging Lucy, but Happy flew down and wrapped his tail around her waist and flew off with her. Salamander ordered his men to go after them, and they went to find weapons to shoot them down.

"Wait," Lucy shouted, "What about Natsu and Paige?"

"I can't carry two people, let alone three!" Happy shouted back.

"Don't worry! We'll be fine!" I called to reassure her. I tried to find a way out of the yacht. But every exit was blocked by Salamander's men. It looked like the only way to go was up. I looked back at Natsu sadly, _Wait for me Natsu, I will be back._

I heard footsteps running to me, the men were now after me. I bent my knees, placing one behind the other; "Activate!" I yelled. Light then engulfed my legs, from toes to thighs. The anklets that I wore changed form and spread across my legs. When the light vanished, a pair of red boots were revealed in their place. They were high healed, and reach up to my knee with a knee guard, and then up to my thigh. Despite their appearance, they're extremely hard, and separated in two at my knees to allow me to move freely.

I jump incredibly high into the air, the cold wind rushing past my ears and blowing back my hair. I flipped so I'd be upside down in the air. I saw Natsu being kicked around by the guards, which gave me an uneasy feeling of guilt. But then I saw the Salamander blast purple rays of fire in my direction. I dodged by diving into the water. Swiftly, I passed through the cold ocean blue. My boots disappeared once I entered the water. I looked around. Lucy was also in the water, swimming towards something shining on a rock. I followed her as I passed by Happy who crashed, neck first, into a rock, his head crooked at an unbelievable angle. He swam up quickly back to the surface.

Lucy grabbed the shining objects and then followed Happy. I followed behind her. I cried out for Natsu when I reached the surface myself.

"There's no need to worry, I have a plan," she said, "Here we go!"

She pulled out a key from her set, and put it in the water, twisting it as if unlocking a door. "Open, gate of the Water Barer, Aquarius!" With that, she lifted the key, and the water at the same time up an into the air. Out of the water, a beautiful mermaid with blue hair, a blue tail and a matching blue bikini top appeared, and hovered above the surface of the ocean. _Aquarius, one of the 12 Zodiac gates we possess a contract with. The Water Barer is one of the most powerful spirits a wizard could have a contract with. Unfortunately, we can only summon her when there's water._ I took out my keys and saw Aquarius' shimmer out of sight.

"That was awesome!" Happy cried in amazement.

"That's the power of a Celestial wizard," Lucy replied proudly, "Whenever I use my gate keys, I can summon spirits from other worlds to help me." Happy seemed to have tuned out her words at that point, and stared at Aquarius with longing eyes. _Because of her tail, maybe?_

"Listen up Aquarius," Said Lucy, "I want you to use your power to push that ship back into the port." Aquarius clicked her tongue, surprisingly similarly to someone else I know, "You're supposed to come through the Spirit World to help! Not to give me attitude!"

Aquarius glared down at her, "Let's get something straight. The next time you so much as think of dropping my keys; you're dead," She stated firmly.

The cat and the Blond both shuddered in her presence. I sighed (earning a death glance from said mermaid).

Nonetheless, she swung the vase she held around herself, which allowed her to control the surrounding water. With a holler, she created a gigantic wave, taller than the ship we were on, and powerful enough to push it to shore. But we were dragged along with it?!

Twirled around in the seemingly endless whirlpool of water, we finally made it to shore. I was very lightheaded, and could barely stand. My knees had never felt so weak before. _Well, that's not actually true, I've been through worse._

Not far away, Lucy and Aquarius started a heated argument, completely forgetting about Happy and I. My attention was brought somewhere else as I gazed up at the broken down ship. On top of it, Natsu stood, glaring down through a mist of sand.

I felt Aquarius' key return to my ring as she was sent back to the Celestial Spirit World. Lucy joined me as we watched the pink haired boy on the ship...

"So you claim to be a member of the Fairy Tail guild?" Said Natsu, less of a question than a statement.

"So what's it to you?" The Salamander retorted, "Go get him, men!"

"Sir!"

As if on cue, Natsu ripped off his black coat, revealing the sleeveless, open vest that he wore. But taking off the coat also revealed a mark that I hadn't seen him mention before, a red marking not unlike the figure of a small bird. No. It was more like... A fairy.

Happy suddenly flew next to us, a small grin on his face, "You know, I probably should have told you this earlier, but he's a wizard too."

Lucy yelled out in surprise, I let out a small exhale of the same. _Does that mean..?_ I looked back up at the boy and the red mark painted on his shoulder.

"My name is Natsu, I'm a Fairy Tail wizard! And I've never seen you before!"

The area suddenly bursted in an array of gasps, and everyone stared in bewilderment at the newly discovered fairy.

"That mark on his arm," yelled one of the henchmen, "This guy is the real deal, Bora!"

"Don't call me that you fool!"

"I know him," Happy said, "That's Bora the Prominence. Rumour has it, he was kicked out of the Titan Nose wizard guild a couple of years ago for bad behaviour."

 _Well, that would explain a lot,_ It also explained why he would have gone through the trouble of getting illegal magic like those charms.

"I have no idea what you're trying to do here, buddy, and I don't care if you're a good guy, bad guy or what," Natsu yelled out, "I'm not going to let you dirty the Fairy Tail guild's name!"

Bora smirked, and suddenly sent out an attack, purple flame flying his way. Out of instinct, I ran toward the ship, but was stopped by Natsu's blue companion.

"What the hell, Happy?!" I yelled, but he wore a serious face as he gazed up at the boy. Then, I heard a noise likes suction, and so I looked up.

"Agh, this is so gross!" Said a voice from within the fire, "Are you sure that you're really a fire wizard? 'Cause these are the nastiest flames I've ever tasted!" The fire started to clear. I looked more carefully at the disappearing flames, and there, stood Natsu, inhaling the fire, unburned and unharmed.

"Thanks for the grub, poser."

In fear, Salamander- no, he's obviously a fake. The fire wizard and his men looked up at Natsu, mouths agape and eyes as wide as they can get.

"Fire magic doesn't work on Natsu," Happy implied. _Now, that is quite impressive. I've never seen anything like it. I wonder how he managed to pull it off._

After having sucked in the remaining flames, he seemed to be preparing himself for his next attack. His cheeks puffed up, incredibly large, and he actually breathed fire, like a real dragon. It came from out of his mouth and headed towards the fake Salamander. The fire hit all of his men, but he managed to avoid it by making one of his floating fire carpets.

"Hey Bora," One of his men called, "I swear I've seen this guy before. The pink hair and the scaly lookin' scarf, he's got to be the real one!"

Eyes wide, and mouth agape, my sister cried out to the one, and true fire dragon of Fairy Tail: "Salamander?!"

Natsu ran down the ship's bow, using the tip as a spring to launch himself, his fist engulfed with fire, dashing directly at the fake Salamander. Struggling to avoid this coming attack, Bora launched his own rain of purple flames, in hopes one would hit the boy. Natsu effortlessly avoided every single one. Natsu struck him in the cheek with his flaming fist and Bora went flying across the port town and crashed right into brick houses. The sound resonated everywhere with the debris, keeping everyone at a standstill, too bewildered by the battle commencing in front of them, including myself.

"So he eats fire and then attacks with it?" Lucy asked, "But how does he do it? Is it some kind of spell?"

"He has dragon lungs that allow him to breath fire, dragon scales to help him to dissolve the fire, and dragon claws for attacking with fire." Happy answered, "His brand of fire magic is one that allows his body to take all the qualities of a dragon. It's an ancient spell that's rarely used anymore.

"This particular magic was originally made to deal with dragons. It's called Dragon Slayer magic. Igneel was the one who taught it to him."

The fight between the Dragon Slayer and Bora the Prominence went on. Bora, covered in bruises and burns, still struggled to simply survive, while Natsu still attacked, unscathed and full of energy. Every time the imposter sprung an attack, Natsu simply caught it and inhaled it like the first one. It seemed that every flame he inhaled gave him more power.

With one final attack, Bora threw his seemingly most powerful spell at the real Salamander. But once again, it was easily caught and swallowed. The boy chuckled, a giant grin curling onto his face.

Natsu took a final leap towards Bora. He lit his fist alight, aiming a last attack at the fake Salamander. As he soared through the air, I could practically see a dragon flying with him, lending him strength. He finally punched Bora with incredible strength, sending him flying across the town. He crashed into the church bells, making them ring very loudly. _That much sound with just one punch? That's insane!_

"Oh wow! That was amazing!" Exclaimed Lucy, "But he over did it!"

I knew that the Fairy Tail guild went wild on missions, but seeing it myself is actually pretty amazing! I've never heard of Dragon Slayer magic. I suppose there weren't any books in the archives on it. And the mess he left after the fight looked terrible. Unfortunately, the town was completely destroyed on one side, buildings on fire and many buildings destroyed. To think, one man did all this.

Footsteps suddenly resonated behind us, many at the same time. Turning around, we realize who it was.

"The army?!" Lucy yelled, watching the large group of men run toward us.

"Oh crap! We got to get moving!" Natsu grabbed Lucy's wrist as Happy grabbed mine and they started dragging us who-knows-where!

"Where the heck are you taking me?!" My blond sister hollered.

"Just come on! You said you wanted to join the Fairy Tail guild, didn't you?"

Lucy and I both stared at him. He smiles at me, and then Lucy.

"So let's go!" He added, happily giving us a close-eyed smile.

"Alright!" Lucy and I cheered as we ran next to Natsu to start our new adventure as wizards.

Unfortunately for me, that adventure wouldn't last very long...


	3. Chapter 2: The Wizard Guild

**_Year X784_**

 **Magic Council**

 _Those idiots from Fairy Tail have gone and done it again! This time, they've gone and destroyed an entire port!_

 _What is the matter with them?_

 _I'm actually quite fond of those dimwits and their lazy fair attitude._

 _They may behave like fools, but we mustn't forget that they are a very capable lot._

 _Yes, that's true, they represent quite the quandary._

 _I think we should leave them be. After all, if it wasn't for those fools, think how boring this world would be..._

• ≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈ •

 ** _End of the fictional 19th century_**

 **Komui's P.O.V.**

 _What does he want now? Lately he can find nothing to do but call me to his office, is there really no time for sleep at the Black Order? I can't do a thing without being bothered. And doesn't he have other business or branches to attend to?_

I walked quickly and nervously across the halls of the Asian Branch's headquarters. I had asked myself to be temporarily assigned here rather than at HQ while _she_ was away. It's closer to the continent she was currently living on. If there was any kind of emergency she ran into, I know she'd come here. And until I heard notice she was coming back, I wouldn't be leaving Asia.

Once I arrived at his 'office' (only made since I came), I opened the doors, to be greeted by a middle-aged man, "You needed me inspector?" I asked a bit disgruntled – but I didn't want to sound that way in front of him, so I acted formally.

"Yes, Komui," he said, "Come. Sit down." I sat in a chair in front of his desk. Every time I looked into his hazel eyes, he seemed to be peering into my very soul. "It's about _her_ ," Said the brown-haired man.

"Yes, what about her?"

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Well, she's with her sister at her father's house. You of all people should know she visits her frequently," I answered. I could feel a sweat drop from my forehead.

"Yes, of course. But I wasn't told that their mansion had been relocated to Magnolia," he retorted. Somehow, the way he said that brought shivers down my spine (in a _bad_ way – don't get any ideas!)

"What are you talking about?" I grabbed the collar of my coat gently to air it out. He sent me a disdainful look. I sent him the same, a bit more discreetly. His manner of insisting really is quite incredible. And he does it so mercilessly.

"Chief Komui, I don't believe you understand the seriousness of her actions. She's devoted herself to the Black Order. If she joins a wizard guild, we _will_ take her into custody, and we will have to take Fairy Tail down."

"What makes you say she's become a wizard? What makes you believe she's even capable?"

He let out a low groan, and placed his arm on the desk. He leaned over slightly, darkening his gaze.

 _"We need her back."_

• ≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈ •

 ** _Year X784_**

 **Paige's P.O.V.**

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Happy cheered.

Stunned, Lucy was left admiring the guild hall, a relatively large building with an arched bell tower. The wooden sign welcoming us at the door read "Fairy Tail". _It's so cute~_

All of a sudden, Natsu kicked open the large double-doors. As we entered, a man came flying by and landed head first on the floor at our feet.

"You lied about that Salamander! I'm gonna kick your butt!"

"Don't get mad at me! I was just passin' along a rumour I heard!"

"It was just a _'rumour'_?"

"You wanna fight?!"

"Let's go!"

At that moment, Natsu and the man he had supposedly punched started an all-out battle. They sent each other punches and kicks, uncoordinated in every way. Others joined, and before we knew it, the guild erupted in a huge battle! The tables were getting smashed and chairs were flying everywhere– _Those aren't chairs, those are people!_

As I watched the fight in astonishment, Lucy _seemed_ to be doing the same, except... "Wow! We are actually inside the Fairy Tail guild hall!" _Yep, she's officially lost her mind._

Looking around, past the ominous brawl, I saw an abundance of different people. Each had their own unique hairstyles and hair colours, I could say the same about their eyes. From brown to pink, there were all sorts of crazy colours. And their clothing was interesting too, far different than what I was used to. They were even different to the civilians living on the continent. And there was one man who didn't seem to be wearing any clothes at all– _Wait, what?_

I ran up to the raven-haired man, to get a closer look, but Lucy beat me there. He was only wearing his boxers, from where I was. He was looking for Natsu in particular for some reason or another. When the pink-haired boy suddenly heard the invitation, the two started another fight of their own, fists only flying everywhere as if they trained themselves, which they probably had. My very soul was eventually crushed when Natsu pulled off the man's remaining clothing, leaving little to the imagination. I could feel heat flush through my cheeks.

I took a step back, but (by glorious chance) I stepped on one of the debris of wood left on the ground (which removed my gaze from you-know-where). I landed on the ground, which should've made a loud _thud_ , but nothing was heard due to the overwhelming noise of the guild battle. I sat up and groaned. My head in my hands. "Ouch."

I was about to get up, but before I could, I was suddenly lifted up off the ground. Whoever picked me up was running and then slowed to a stop. I looked up to see the mysterious man who had swept me off my feet (so to speak). He wore a green jacket over his orange shirt. He had orange hair and green eyes covered by rectangular sunglasses. His left ear was pierced three times. I looked past him. Where I had fallen were now two men tackling each other.

"You should be more careful. You would have gotten hurt if I didn't come to your rescue," I looked up at the man, he was smiling at me, a flirtatious close-eyed smiled, "But I always enjoy saving such beautiful young ladies like yourself."

"Huh?" I looked up at him, confused.

He chuckled as he set me down. "Tell me, what's your name?"

"I'-" I was about to answer, but I stopped myself. When he let me go, I had suddenly felt strange sensations where he touched me, on my legs and back. Paying closer attention, I sensed an aura coming out of him too. It felt... strange. It didn't feel wrong, it was just... off. Like he didn't belong. _Doesn't belong? In what way?_

He waved his hand in front of my face, "You all right?" I looked up at him. His eyes looked blue through his shades. I nodded. For some reason, I suddenly felt a bit uneasy, and I couldn't answer any of his questions. I couldn't say anything at all. "You sure?" He took a bit of my hair from one of ponytails, "If there's any way I could make you feel better, I'd be pleased to do so." He played with the strands of hair, passing them through his fingers. Even I couldn't resist blushing, just a bit. He then sent me a charming smile, "My name's Loke, by the way."

From far, I could hear Lucy's voice. I looked behind Loke, and she seemed to be talking to another woman. I could only see her from the back. She was tall, and had a lovely figure. She wore a magenta dress, its skirt was large and long, I almost would've guessed it'd be a ball gown if she wore jewellery and extra accessories to make it less casual. But what I noticed most was her hair. It was long, it reached her waist, and it was pure white, just like snow. _White hair?_

When my sister started pointing at me, the woman she was talking to turned around, with the most gorgeous smile. I gasped, "That's Mirajane!" I started running to them. Someone caught my arm! When I was pulled back, I heard a loud _BAM!_ I looked back. There she was, crushed against a table by an unconscious large and quite muscular man. Although her smile didn't fade, I still couldn't help but feel a bit disconcerted. (More like a lot).

"Ugh, it's so loud. So much for having a drink to relax," a woman with long, wavy brown hair sat at the bar- sat on the bar, with one arm wrapped around a barrel of alcohol, and the other hand held a card, "That's enough, you guys I suggest you knock it off."

The card she held in her hand started glowing, and a magic circle appeared in front of it. Other members of the guild started casting spells as well. Natsu engulfed his fists in flames, the raven-haired boy – wearing his boxers (thank goodness) – placed his fist in his hand and pulled it back, and a strange light started flowing from them, _Is that frost?_ The white haired man who had crashed into Mirajane transformed his right arm into... Brick? _Wow! It's like there's parasitic-type magic... That sounded a lot lamer than I thought it would_. Loke took my arm and pulled me behind him, and then he too started casting a spell-

 _CRASH!_

The centre of the wooden floor shattered, creating the loudest sound yet, and shocking all those in battle. A giant foot had slammed down from... way up. "Would you fools stop bickering like children!" The voice was low, and monstrous. Everyone quieted down, the entire guild went silent. They were frozen in place. Along the foot, my gaze crawled up its leg... A little more... Along his leg... More leg... And then his middle... Still his middle... More middle..- no wait! That last one was chest! And more chest... Neck... _is that a chin?!_ Finally I got a good look at his face, his large face. A giant sneer imprinted his wrinkled face, and his eyes, glowing with rage, shined a bright yellow. I could feel his magic energy from where I stood. It was almost suffocating.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were still here, Master," Chimed Mirajane. _When did she recover?_

"Did you say ' _Master_ '!" On my sister's outburst, I went to join her, to meet this 'Master'. _Fire magic, celestial magic, 'parasitic-type' magic and now this? I had no idea magic was so varied._

As I ran next to the blond, the giant looked down at us, "'Seems we have some new recruits," With that, he started concentrating his magic power and then released it. Gusts of energy blew out at an alarming strength – which terrified Lucy to no end. I could feel myself short of breath, it was getting hard to breathe! _How much power can wizards actually possess?_ The elder kept shrinking and shrinking until he was no taller than my knee height. I felt a rush of light-headedness pass by when he had stopped. I took a step back to hold my balance and placed one hand on my face. I hoped most people mistook this as shock rather than unease. Looking to the side, I realized Lucy was the real attention driver, after all, her mouth was wide open, her eyes bulged and sweat dropped from her forehead in rivers. I regained my composure and sighed.

I looked down at Fairy Tail's master. He was a small old man, typical wrinkles littered his face, and his hair and moustache were a whitish grey. _I think he's even shorter than Bookman._ One of his small hands raised up cheerfully, and a sweet smile suddenly adorned his visage. "Nice'ta meet yuh!"

"He's _tiny_! This little guy is really in charge here?!" Lucy's outburst earned her an elbow to her side.

Mirajane giggled, "Of course he is!" She said, without concern for Lucy's groaning, "Allow me to introduce you to Fairy Tail's guild master, Makarov."

He nodded at us politely, "Would you excuse me for a second." He swiftly turned around toward the bar, and jumped into the air, making a few front flips. His destination was quite high, so when he crashed upside-down into the second floor's railings, I worried that he might've broken his back. I was relieved when he climbed up and stood, as if nothing had happened. He cleared his throat. And then that same scowl from earlier smeared his features.

"You've gone and done it again, you bunch o'clods!" He took out a stack of papers lying around on the second floor's ground, and then went back to his post on the railing, "Just look at how much paperwork the Magic Council sent me this time! This is the biggest pile of complaints yet! Have you lost your minds?! All you kids are good for is getting the higher ups mad at me!" Master Makarov trembled furiously, grasping the papers so tight, they crinkled and folded. But then, his shoulders relaxed and his expression calmed. "However..." He looked up with a grin, holding out the papers in his hand, before they caught fire and burned, "I say to heck with the _Magic Council_.

"Now listen up! Any power that surpasses reason still comes from reason, right? Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power. It is a talent, that only works when the flow of energy inside of us and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect synchronization. To perform magic, one must have a strong mind, and the ability to focus. It should take over your very being and come pouring out of your soul!

"If all we worry about is following rules, then our magic will never progress. Don't let those blow-hearts on the council scare you! Follow the path you believe in! 'Cause that's what makes the Fairy Tail guild... Number ONE!"

Cheers erupted all throughout the guild hall and every member put their hand up in the air. They each made the same gesture in the air with their right hand: their index and thumb were pointed up towards the sky while the rest of their fingers were curled into their palm. Down low, I made the same symbol and stared at the back of my hand. At first, I would've assumed it was the symbol for an 'L' that signified 'Loser' – _people really are strange here_ – but looking at my hand from the back, the L was backwards, so it couldn't mean that. I looked up at the crowd. They all had such bright smiles too. I looked back down at my own hand. _I wonder what it means?_

√ ∂ ∆ *_..._* ∆ ß √

The stamp was released of its pressure on the back of the blond's right hand. She admired the light pink mark of a fairy that it left behind.

And then came my turn, "Where would you like it Paige?" Mirajane said sweetly. I wasn't actually sure where I wanted it. But then I decided, _somewhere it can be covered by a jacket,_ so I showed her my forearm and pointed right in the middle of it. She stamped it on so that when I looked at it, it was upright. It was a dark violet, almost black.

"There. Now you're an official member of the guild," she said cheerfully. I smiled back and giggled a bit. It felt so strange being part of a new 'organization'. I thanked her and left quietly.

I was about to turn to Lucy, but she'd already run off to show Natsu. She was really excited, much more than I was. This was her dream for the longest time, and now she's finally here. I remember feeling the same once. That dream is long gone, but I was glad Lucy was satisfied. More than satisfied, she was ecstatic. The pink-haired boy, though, didn't even seem half as fazed as I was. He kept staring at the bulletin board – which they called the 'request board' – and didn't sound interested at all: "Oh yeah. That's cool. Welcome to the guild, Luigi," He said.

"THE NAME'S LUCY!"

I smiled sheepishly at his comment, _He brought us here to join and he can't even remember her name? It's not even that complicated, our name's are actually kinda plain._ I ran up to her, she was grumbling something under her breath. I giggled.

"What'up Luigi-"

" _DON'T_ you go calling me that too!" She snapped.

I laughed, "Gee, I was just teasing, sis."

She growled quietly, glaring daggers at me. I didn't even know she could get offended so easily. I laughed anyway though, she was already a lot happier ever since she left. I poked her in the arm twice playfully, then started pointing at my guild mark, "Lucy! Looky! Looky! Mine's purple! See!" _I try to play the roll of cute sister whenever I can for her, and I think I do a pretty good job~_

Her frown turned upside down quite quickly when I showed her. She grabbed my hands excitedly, her eyes dazzled with glee... Glee... Dazzled with- What have I turned into?!

(Anyway~) "We actually made it! We got into Fairy Tail!" She started to dance and cheer a little celebration thing, but she suddenly clapped her hands together with a gasp, "I think I'll take the opportunity to talk to Mirajane!" And with that, she ran off to the bar. _I've never seen her so excited_. The thought warmed my heart _. She actually found a new home_.

I looked around the guild curiously. Everyone was calm, despite the fact that they just ended a brawl (which they had to clean up after themselves after the guild master's speech). No one had left either. Boy-In-His-Boxers was at the bar drinking water (the glass was a bit frosted at the edge which I found strange at the time). Loke was sitting with (under) two other girls who cuddled with him. _I've definitely met his type before_. The brunette at the bar chugged down an entire barrel of alcohol. The fact that she could hold up the entire thing on her own surprised me enough, but that she could drink it too? ...

The guild doors opened suddenly, and in ran a little boy, no older than five or six, all the way to the bar, where the guild master sat cross-legged and staff in hand. "Why hasn't my dad come back yet?" He asked sadly.

"You're starting to work my nerves, Romeo," retorted the Master, "You're a wizard's son. Have faith in your father and wait patiently for him."

"But sir, he told me he'd be back in three days. And he's been gone for a week now!"

"If I remember correctly, he took the job on Mt. Hakobe."

"That's right! And it's not the far from here! So why won't somebody look for him!"

"Listen kid! Your old man's a wizard! And like every other wizard in this guild, he can take care of himself!" He snapped, "Now go home. Have some milk and cookies. And WAIT!"

The boy started to quiver. His fists were clenched. He scowled at the ground. But then he jumped up onto a chair, and punch the small man in the face. "JERK!" The boy ran out crying, "I hate you all!"

His words rang over and over again in my head. _"I hate you all..."_ That was a bit strong for such a young boy. But it was also harsh on the Master's part to be so, _I can't even find the word_...

• ≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈ •

 **Lucy's P.O.V.**

"That's gotta be tough," I said sadly, watching the boy run out of guild. I could even feel the mood slightly shift throughout the entire guild.

"I know it sounds like the master doesn't care," said Mirajane quietly, "But he really is worried-" Suddenly, there was a large crash sound on the opposite end of the guildhall. There was a large dent in the request board, and a few papers fell to the ground. The pink-haired boy who caused the damage quickly stormed out of the guild without another sound.

Once the doors closed, I turned back to Mira, who was cleaning a glass quietly, "Why is Natsu so upset?"

"Probably because he and Romeo have a lot in common. I think he sees himself in Romeo," she paused before continuing, "Even though we're members of Fairy Tail, it doesn't mean we don't have our own personal issues. We've all had our fair share of suffering and loss."

"I don't mean to pry-" _When did Paige get here?!_ "But, what kind of 'fair share' would Natsu have had?" She asked.

Mirajane smiled sadly, "Many years ago, Natsu's father left and never came back. Well, technically it wasn't his real father, but the one who raised him. He was actually a dragon."

Paige slammed both her hands on the table, "You mean Natsu was actually _raised_ by a dragon?" She asked, stunned, and almost flustered. _One step ahead of me as always,_ I thought, _But I never thought she'd ever sound so much like me?_

Mira nodded, "When he was a little boy, a dragon found him wandering the forest. He took him in and taught him all about language, culture, and magic. But one day, the dragon disappeared and never returned."

"So that dragon must have been Igneel," I stated.

"That's right, and Natsu lives for the day that he'll finally see Igneel again. It's kinda cute, don't you think?" She smiled sweetly, but a bit solemnly as well.

The chair next to mine made a loud scratching sound against the ground, and Paige left the guild quickly, without another word. I smiled. _There she goes again, one step ahead of me._ With one last goodbye to the lovely Mirajane, I left to follow my little sister to help Natsu and find Romeo's father.

√ ∂ ∆ *_..._* ∆ ß √

 _"Why'd you come with us?"_

 _"We thought maybe we could help."_

 _"You really do have a serious case of motion sickness, don't you?"_

 _"It's just another reason to feel sorry for you."_

 _''What's that supposed to mean?"_

 _"Oh, nothing! Forget I said anything."_

Natsu's motion sickness was to be blamed by the shaking and travel of the small, windowless carriage leading us up Mt. Hakobe, where Romeo's father was last sent. Natsu must have been really worried about him if he was willing to ride a vehicle to arrive sooner. But no one wants to lose a father. Not one who cares at least. Just thinking of the sadness Natsu felt when his father left him must've been tragic.

The carriage suddenly came to a stop, "I'm sorry, but this is as far as I can take you," said the driver politely. Natsu, suddenly burst out cheering, and he shot small flames out of his mouth. _Well, that was a quick recovery._

To leave, we would obviously have to leave through the back door. But, to my great dismay, I was not welcomed with the warm summer breeze and gentle sunlight. Oh no, no, no. It was July and warm, but what should have been impossible for the 7th month of the year is what came crashing into my face! DAMMIT! I almost got frostbite from that one blow!

The air was so crisp and cold, it was practically hard to breathe! Just looking around, all I could see for miles around was a barren field of white. "Where the heck are we, Natsu?!" I yelled over the howling of the wind, "It's a frozen wasteland!" I whimpered when feeling the large wave of cold wind through my bare arms and legs. _THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING!_

Natsu and Happy jumped out of the car, as if it was as simple as jumping into a warm tub. "Hey! Where are you-?"

Before I could ask, Paige suddenly jumped out too and ran up to them. Just watching them walk out made me shiver so much more than I ever should in mid-summer. At least Paige looked cold though, hugging herself and rubbing her arms – but she doesn't complain – no-ho, in fact, she looked back and smiled at me sweetly as if her shivering body was detached from her warm head (although her cheeks and nose had already turned a bright shade of red).

"What are you waiting for, c'mon!" She called cheerfully.

I grumbled under my breath before jumping out and following close behind them, excessively rubbing at the goosebumps rapidly rising on my arms. _If she survives this weather, she is so dead when we get home._ Once I caught up to them _-_ slowly since I did _not_ want to fall in the snow - they immediately received an earful of well-deserved complaints.

"Why is it so cold?! I know we're on a mountain, but it's summer right now! There shouldn't be a blizzard like this anywhere!" _Is that a blanket in his nap sack!_

"Yeah, well, that's what you get for wearing light clothing," stated Natsu, who clearly was not affected by the frost-bite wind and needle snow! Even though he himself wore a sleeveless and _open_ vest!

"Oh please! You're not dressed for it! _Now hand over that blanket!_ "

"She just keeps on talkin', huh?"

"Aye~ it's hard to imagine her and Paige are sisters," Happy chimed, which suddenly stopped Natsu in his tracks.

Once I managed to pull the blanket out of his bag, I ran out in front of him, joining the other two to see what was wrong all of a sudden. He stared out blankly, shocked it seemed (in a monkey-faced way). Then he suddenly started screaming! And pointing at... Paige? Who was just as confused as me.

"You two are _sisters_?!" ...

 _BANG!_

"Of course we are, y'dope! We told you that back in Hargeon! _Remember?!_ "

He looked up at me painfully, rubbing at the large bump growing on his head, "I thought you said you were cousins, you don't look alike at all~"

 _BANG!_

"ARE YOU _THAT_ SCATTERBRAINED!"

"That's Natsu for ya!"

√ ∂ ∆ *_..._* ∆ ß √

 **Paige's P.O.V.**

Eventually, Lucy gave up, saying the cold was too much to handle. So she called upon the grandfather clock spirit, Horologium, and hid in his cabinet, draped in Natsu's blanket. She shivered drastically, protested about going any further, so we left her behind. She was safe with Horologium, so I wasn't worried. I was more worried about Romeo's father, Macao.

We called his name several times, but we never got any response or clues on his whereabouts. Even Happy couldn't see anything from above. We stopped near a cliff where the path broke off into a dead end.

"Macao! Where are you?!" Natsu yelled.

"Macao!"

"Macao!"

Macao couldn't be seen anywhere. He couldn't be heard. But Natsu seemed to sense something. He was serious, unlike his usual playful (goofy) look. "Look out!" He cried, and at that moment, something massive came soaring through the air. Upon landing, the ground shook, and I was knocked off balance, falling to the really really (really) cold ground. _I didn't even know snow could get this cold!_ A tear started to fall from my eye, but it turned to ice in a split second, _How am I even surviving up here?_

The wind and snow that spit in my face eventually dimmed (although my lips had turned a bright purple by consequence). Out in the white, where Natsu once stood, was a large figure, about twice my own size. It's shoulders were broad, but its waist was quite small proportionally compared to its chest, and its legs quite thin compared to its arms. The feet and hands could be quite evenly sized.

The last bit of snow revealed the monster that hid behind its veil. A hunched white-furred creature with black spots and a long monkey-like face seemed to be grinning directly in my direction. It giggled. I shivered. _As if I wasn't trembling enough already!_

"Woman!" He... cheered. Too much steam came of out his nose for a normal exhale.

"Natsu! Please don't tell me that _this_ is a Vulcan!" I cried, lip quivering. The look he was giving me was really CREEPY, okay?!

Fist slammed into his palm, the boy looked up at the monster he had told me about during our walk, "Yup, that'd be it. I didn't actually know white ones could talk though." _There are other colours?!_

In an instant, the creature had leapt, fast, and grabbed me in one hand by the waist. Jerked forward, I coughed and a few tears welled up – instantly freezing (What a way to join a guild!). I shrieked and whimpered hearing it giggle again, "NATSU!"

There was more shrieking when it leapt around faster, and started bouncing instead of a smooth run. But I wasn't the one shrieking. And it sounded muffled, "'Don't just stand there! Hurry up and save me!' She yells furiously," And so, it seemed my dear blonde sister was still cooped up in the grandfather clock and dragged him into our little mess as well. I pouted.

√ ∂ ∆ *_..._* ∆ ß √

Its eyes were full of lust, and his smile was almost insane as the gorilla-like creature perched over me. I sat against a wall, staring up at the creature. I didn't wanna move, worried it might do something. I didn't wanna find out what kind of stuff it would do. Lucy was still too, cowering inside of the clock spirit, not even uttering a whimper, no matter how terrified she was. Also, I was still wondering whether it was okay to kill it, or if there were some kind of strange rules here that didn't allow wizards to 'hunt' these things. Not that I'd want this thing as a trophy.

I don't know how long I sat there before I heard screaming from the outside. That was when I finally broke my gaze from the monkey. I shifted my attention to the cave's entrance (thank goodness it didn't flinch, it kept staring though -.-'). The yelling kept getting louder and louder, until finally...

"Hey! Yuh big ape!" In charged our friendly neighbourhood pink-haired Salamander, "Where's Macao! TELL ME!"

The entire time, it never stopped staring at me, which was probably best, to be honest. As soon as Natsu stepped onto the iced floor of the cavern, he slipped. In a split second, he was on the ground, tumbling over himself until he hit the wall opposite the entrance. Only when he heard the crash did the monkey take a peak at his intruder. In all honesty, that was probably the lamest entrance I've ever seen in my life.

"Spill it, monkey, where is my friend?" croaked Natsu. Lucy suddenly ran behind Natsu, celestial spirit out of sight. Probably because his _time_ was up, "You understand me, right? He's a human man, now tell me where he is!" Natsu commanded, pointing an accusative finger at him.

"Man?" It inquired. _It actually understands him?_

"That's right. Where are you hiding him!"

Shivering in the background, Lucy said, "Don't you think you're jumping to conclusions?"

Then the Vulcan leaped away, towards a giant hole I assumed he used as a window. With a goofy grin, he waved at the boy to go over. Which he did. _That idiot!_ "Natsu!" I cried, but as I tried to get up, I slipped on the ice and fell (face first) onto the ground. I tried one more time, but it was too late, the Vulcan had pushed him out into the open air to fall down a large cliff. I ran up to the hole, where Lucy was already calling out his name, in hopes that he was all right. No response was heard. Then she turned around an took out one of her keys.

"I'll take care of this, you go after Natsu," she said. Her eyes glinted in determination as she glared at the Vulcan. I nodded and turned back to the hole.

"Activate," I said, and my anklets glowed the same way they had just the day before, engulfing my legs in light and turning into boots.

"Open! Gate of the Golden Bull!" I heard her yell, "Taurus!"

Calling the name of the zodiac spirit was my cue, but before I could jump, I felt something rush past my head. All I saw through the hole was a flash of blue before it disappeared into the white storm. _What was that?_ I asked myself. For some reason, I deactivated my boots.

"Paige, what are you waiting for?!" Lucy called.

"I-"

"Oh you're here too, miss Paige? Wow, sometimes I forget what a hot bod' _you_ have, why don't you come here and give me a smooooch after your big sis?" Anime vein marks popped onto my forehead as I tried to contain myself from bursting out at him. Never. Never. I had never been spoken to in such a way until becoming a wizard, at least people are _decent_ where I live and they don't say what they think.

"Don't touch my women!" Suddenly shouted the Vulcan.

" _Your_ women?" Retorted Taurus, "That's worth fightin' for you moooonkey!"

And with that, the (cow-man) Bull (he doesn't look like a bull. He's an overly buff man in speedos with cow's fur and a cow face) began his attack. He swung the giant axe he wore on his back with ease, spinning it a few times over him, finally landing an attack on-

"Yaaawwwh!" -Not landing an attack on the Vulcan, but instead being met by a foot to the jaw, sending him flying through the air, crashing to the ground, muttering something about it being 'the end for him'?!

Dumbstruck, Lucy and I could only stare at the scene, frozen. The Vulcan never moved once during Taurus' failed attack, and yet, somehow, the spirit was sent flying across the cave and lying unconscious (or whatever condition he might have been in). And, to our not-so-great surprise, the cause of this was the pink-haired fire wizard (I really love his hair!) who stood seemingly confused in between both creatures. He looked at us, perplexed.

"So how come there are more monsters now than when I left?"

"He's a friend, _dummy_ , one of our spirits!" Lucy retorted. He looked confused, seeing as it was the Vulcan he was staring pointedly at, "Not him! The _bull_!– Wait a minute, how were you able to survive out there?" She sent me a glance, but I was even more confused, since I never went after him, _I didn't right?_

Natsu sent back a grin, "Happy came to save me! Thanks little buddy!" Happy then hovered over his shoulder with an equally large grin.

"But I thought you got motion sick, Natsu?" I said.

He sent back the strangest look, like I was crazy, "I only get sick on vehicles, and Happy's my friend," he stated, which didn't completely make sense to me, but at least it was one less thing to worry about if I ever had to save him like that.

Completely cutting off our conversation, the creature behind us – who was staring dumbly at us until then – suddenly pounced, and aimed a slam at Natsu, which ruptured the ground under them. Even though, the pink-haired wizard took full-blast of the attack, his fist was firm and stiff above his head. And he had a new determination in his eyes. "You listen up!" He growled under the pressure, "I consider everyone in Fairy Tail my _friend_!" _Huh?_ With a powerful kick, he sent the monkey flying back, "Whether it's Gramps or Mira! And even those annoying jerks Gray and Elfman!" _Is he lecturing it?_ Once his balance was regained, the Vulcan charged at him, landing a kick of his own, that made Natsu try to grasp at whatever friction was on the ground. "Happy, Lucy and Paige too. They're all my friends!" _Eh?_ I have to admit, this spread a red-hot flush through my cheeks. We had just met the other day, and he was already calling us friends? And thinking about having friends at Fairy Tail... suddenly made me feel really sad...

"Which is why," he lit his fist aflame, and charged at the Vulcan, landing a hot punch right in his abdomen, "I'm not leaving without MACAO!" Once completing the followthrough of his punch, the Vulcan went crashing through the icicles on the ceiling, which shattered and created a veil of cold mist.

But the Vulcan didn't emerge alone. When the thick mist finally passed, there he stood, a giant grin played on his lips. In his hands, he played around with the handle of the Celestial Spirit's axe. _His gate didn't close?!_ My question was soon answered when the Bull Spirit still lay sprawled across the ground, moaning, "Please be careful miss Lucy~"

The Vulcan started swinging the giant axe around, aiming every attack at Natsu, who just barely dodged them, until he found a soft spot and slipped on the cold floor. Taking the opportunity, the Vulcan swung the axe above its head, _What am I doing! I should be helping him! Not watching!_ I watched in fright as the axe swung down on the boy. And without thinking, I reacted before it ever reached him.

 _CLANG!_

Weapon activated, the axe plunged into the inner heel of my boot. It didn't crack at all though. But keeping your leg stiff in a high kick position while immense pressure was pushing down on it was not as easy as I made it seem. But still, I refused to budge, even when the Vulcan was pressing down so hard that the ice under my foot shattered, as painful as it was. At the time, I didn't notice this, but everyone was actually staring at me, dumbstruck (Lucy told me when we got home).

The Vulcan suddenly lifted the axe, which caught me off guard, and I tripped backwards. He sent the axe over his shoulder, and swung it, landing a hit with the upper part of its handle right into my waist (one step back, and it would've been the blade). I skidded across the ice, holding my pained side. But I couldn't stand, so I lay there, coughing through the pain. Lucy struggled with Taurus, shaking him back and forth, begging him to go back to the spirit world so that the axe would disappear too. Happy tried flying to me, but was blocked by the Vulcan's giant fist.

I tried to stand, but the pain in my side was too great. It almost felt like it hurt more than it should have. I couldn't move. Not at all. Not even as the Vulcan positioned the axe over himself and let the weight of its blade fall right onto me...

 _"Hey..."_

"Hey." _What just-_

"WOULD YOU FREAKIN' SNAP OUT OF YOUR DAYDREAM AND JUST WAKE UP ALREADY!"

With a start, I opened my eyes. _Nothing happened?_ There was no cut on my body, no blood or anything. Instead was a shadow draped over my lower body. And higher up stood Natsu, his back inclined and in his hands... The giant blade of Taurus' axe. My eyes widened in an instant, _He stopped the force of the axe with his bare hands? How!_ Not only that, but the Vulcan was still attempting to force it down, but he was keeping it still with all the strength he had. _But something like that is inhuman, isn't it?_ Of course it was inhuman, he was a wizard after all, a Dragon Slayer no less. And even though I had been surrounded by inhumanity all my life... I still couldn't help but feel a small amount of uncertainty and a bit of fear.

But he stood over me, putting everything he had in keeping the blade from splitting me in half. Just watching it made me forget about the pain in my side. And that's when I saw it.

The metal under the boy's hands started to turn red and drip down into his mouth. This made my heart pound a mile a minute, _He melted the blade and is eating the metal?_ I couldn't comprehend it. First fire and now melted metal? And the axe was from the Celestial Spirit world. _What effects will that have on his body?_

Once having muddled it in his mouth, he spit the remains out, blasting the Vulcan with pellets of metal. As it screamed in agony, Natsu took the perfect opportunity to land a final strike to the monster's abdomen, sending it crashing into a wall, unconscious.

"We beat 'im!" Happy cheered, so excited he started circling the Vulcan in flight and giggling. Natsu bent down and offered me his hand, which I took, since it was still pretty hard for me to move.

"You all right?" He asked.

"I'll manage," I answered, with a smile to reassure him. It was the truth, I would. My bones are harder to break than people think. That goes for most exorcists. But with that, we joined the other two who hovered over the Vulcan.

Eyeing the creature curiously, Lucy finally asked, "But wasn't this monkey supposed to tell us where you're friend is?"

"Oh! Yeah~ kinda forgot about that," he smiled sheepishly.

Before anyone could say anything more, the Vulcan started glowing. A bright light shone from him, and I was suddenly starting to feel a little uneasy. As the light grew brighter, the Vulcan started to shrink and shrink. When the light dissipated, it didn't reveal a smaller version of the creature. It revealed a middle-aged man. Natsu gasped.

"It's Macao!" Happy cried.

"Are you telling me that the big perverted monkey was actually your friend this whole time?!" Lucy yelled.

"Yep," Answered Happy sadly, "He must've been taken over by that Vulcan."

Lucy and I stared at Happy skeptically, "What do you mean, 'taken over'?"

"Vulcans survive by stealing people's body's and 'taking them over', they're evil body snatchers." _Why the Akuma reference?!_ (x~x)

√ ∂ ∆ *_..._* ∆ ß √

We lay him down on the ground, and covered his wounds with the first aid kit I carried around, Natsu had one in his nap sack too. None of his wounds were fatal, but he'd be in constant pain for a while. And it was the sum of all wounds together that gave the risk of death.

"Macao!" Natsu quivered, "Don't you die on me! Romeo's waiting for you! Open your eyes!"

At the sound of his voice, the man slowly open his eyes. But his face was tense, he was obviously in pain.

"Na... tsu..." He said weakly.

"You're okay!" Natsu cheered. And a wave of relief washed through everyone.

Macao closed his eyes and groaned to himself, "I'm so pathetic," he muttered, "I defeated nineteen of those brutes. But the twentieth got me." Of course, at that, I froze. _Nineteen by himself and he's calling himself 'pathetic'?_ "I'm so angry with myself. I'm embarrassed to go home and face Romeo."

"Don't be like that! C'mon man! You beat _nineteen_ monsters!" Chimed Natsu encouragingly. Natsu then took Macao's hand in his own. "Let's go home. You're little boy's been waiting for you," Said Natsu with that adorable grin he has. And it made me especially relieved when he smiled back.

√ ∂ ∆ *_..._* ∆ ß √

 _July 7th, year X784,_ it was a sunny day, followed by a blizzard, and it ended up sunny again. I've gotta admit, watching Romeo see his father back did warm my heart after the cold hike on Mt. Hakobe. And it felt good to have helped him get home.

Most people would probably think that almost freezing to death on a mountain and almost getting crushed by a giant monster wouldn't be the best first impression of life as a wizard, or any job really. It was for me though. That first adventure is what suddenly got me motivated as a wizard. And it was this first rescue that got me captivated in going through with my first real job just the next day.


	4. Chapter 3: How To Be A Fairy Tail Wizard

******_Year X777_**

 **Author's P.O.V.**

 _Drip_

 _Drip_

Where am I? _The girl looked around the damp ruin she found herself in. Her gaze followed the broken marble pillars, tilted in the blood red water._ What is... this place? _She was terrified. No one could be seen. No one could be heard._ A black moon?! _The black crescent looked as if it were splitting the sky, shattering all of its remaining beauty._ Brother! Reever! Anyone?!

 _Drip..._

 _With that final drop, she finally looked down at the red water. In it weren't only the debris of the ruins. Not just of the arch she sat upon. When she thought that she was alone, she found one hint of any life. A hand, red as blood, reached out of the water. But that's as far as it went. It didn't move. Not even a twitch. The green cross etched in the back of it didn't even glow._

 _And soon, it started to sink. Down. Down. Into the blood red water. What was left to be heard in this ruined world was a blood curdling scream of pure fear._

 **Paige's P.O.V.**

I practically jumped right out of bed before my eyes were even open. I felt a sudden sharp pain in my side and cringed. The blow to my side hadn't recovered yet, _Darn_. I sat myself upright, rubbing at it, _That dream again,_ I hadn't actually gotten it in a while. It only started up again when I found Lucy to join Fairy Tail. I didn't get it every night either. But it was getting harder and harder to take every time. I tightened my grip on my bed sheets, taking in deep breaths. _It's not fair..._

I finally shook my head and jumped out of bed, draping the comforter neatly over it and then headed to the dresser. Every time I looked in the drawer, I always laughed at myself. It was always a mess, and the reason why was that Lucy agreed she'd do the laundry if I did the cooking (I learned a little something from a certain chef that I know), so she also put my clothes in the drawer. Cleanly. So pretty and organized. But this was the problem: she actually did my shopping too; she knows my measurements so she insisted on buying my clothes, which I agreed for a reason. Dumb. Truly idiotic on my part. All of my clothes = all things she wears. I may not be a tomboy, or a casual-dresser per se, but we definitely do _not_ have the same style, so I always ended up trying to look through every piece of clothing to see if there was anything that was more like me, and eventually give up and wear something I found the least embarrassing.

Showing a lot of skin, conventionally not what I'm used to, but I tolerate at times. It gets uncomfortable showing off cleavage or wearing very tight tops. So, I pulled on a purple tank top (not V-neck- definitely not V-neck) with a black skirt, and pulled a jean jacket over top. I looked at myself in the mirror and chuckled quietly while shaking my head. _Definitely not my style, but it's all I have for now._ I grabbed knee-high socks, and then creeped to Lucy's bedroom door.

Unfortunately, what I still hadn't learned was Fairy Tail's antics. I'd read about many, and should have gotten some sort of demonstration, if not a very _clear_ demonstration, the day before.

I didn't even have time to reach the door when it blasted open. The next thing I knew, I was down on the ground with a heavy weight laying on me. And it didn't quickly come off either.

First it groaned; then it said: "Geez, Lucy, watch where you aim your kick next time." _I recognize that voice._

"If you hadn't have broken in in the first place, none of this woulda happened, you brute!"

With a sigh, I lay my head back defeated, "Sunshine's awake then?"

"What's with that tone of voice!?" _Yes, Sunshine indeed._

Natsu got himself off of me, offering his hand while I got up. I looked back at Lucy and nodded my head once. She scoffed, closing the door behind her, leaving the pink-haired boy and his blue cat now stranded in my room. I turned to face them, "Would you like some tea?"

It only took a few minutes to prepare the tea, but I quickly found out that it was all they needed to make themselves feel at home. Back in my room, tray in hand with four mugs, neither guests were sitting where I expected them to be (at the table next to my bed). Happy had already made his mark on my indigo blue accent wall, where there were now certain 'messy lines' the colour of the wall's interior. My desk was covered in papers, a neat pile of which Natsu was reaching for next. The tray made a loud bang against the desk as I slammed it down, and I quickly swiped the papers away from him.

"What did you read?" I asked.

"Nothing. What is it?"

"It's Lucy's."

"I'm confused."

"I can't tell you what it is, she'll get mad if I do."

"If it's Lucy's, why do you have it?"

I stood there without answering him, holding the papers close to my chest. _I can't tell him, for mine and Lucy's sakes._ "What do you think you're doing?" Lucy stood in the doorway, now clothed. In a ponytail, her hair was still a little damp. Face tightened, she seared glares at both Natsu and me. "Paige! Why would you show him those?"

"I wasn't showing him anything! I was taking them away from him, sis!" I answered. She grabbed the pack out of my hands and stormed back into her own room, where she'd hide it in her 'secret stash' (the drawer under her desk).

"You even made _tea_?!" She yelled.

"Yeah, why?"

"We're not ready for guests!"

I went up to her and pat her on the shoulder, "Sure we are! And _you're_ gonna take good care of them while I go back to the guild."

It took her a moment to process what I said. But to my surprise, she wasn't the one who blocked me at the exit, "You're leaving already? But we just got here," Happy said pleadingly.

I smiled at him, "Yeah, there's someone I wanted to talk to. He kinda saved me when we first got to the guild and I never got to thank him," I said.

He immediately responded with a pout, "Is he gonna be your new partner?"

"Partner?" - No, I didn't know that wizards teamed up in this day and age... Shut up, I'm not from here. -

"Yeah!" Natsu called, "Guild wizards team up all the time to go on missions. It's a lot cooler that way!"

"Aye~!"

I looked back at Happy, "So why are you so upset about me finding a partner?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Natsu answered, Happy let him continue, "We want you on our team!" He ended, with a huge grin. It warmed my heart somehow.

"You want Paige on your team?" Lucy asked.

Natsu turned toward her, "We want you on our team too."

She recoiled, a little flustered. I giggled, "I'm sorry guys, but I owe him at least a thanks."

"But we wanna leave on a mission now!" Whined Happy.

"Maybe next time?" I smiled sheepishly, "I promise I'll join you one of these days, but for now I've gotta get to the guild."

One more time, I was interrupted from opening the door, "Hold on! What about the new spirit!"

I looked back at Lucy, hand on the doorknob, "Make a contract with it yourself for now and explain the circumstances. I'll take care of the rest when you come back from your mission. Good luck!" With that, I left, closing the door behind me.

Heading to the guild, I followed along a brick road that trailed next to a canal that passed all the way through Magnolia. I balanced myself on the ledge. It's great that I have good balance, and with a 2' wide surface, there was no way I could fall. "Watch out kid! Keep that up and yuh might end up swimming!" Called a fisherman who passed by in his boat. I waved at him - although a little insulted to be called "kid".

I felt kind of bad about leaving Happy, he seemed so disappointed at the time. But I really needed to talk to _him_ /i. Not just to thank him. I wanted a little more information on him. What better information could I get than interrogating the one in question? However, from the moment I met him, I would embark myself on a much more complicated investigation than I'd anticipated.

Ever since first meeting Loke, I'd been getting a strange aura from him. It didn't make sense, it wasn't dark, the opposite actually. It almost felt... sacred? In a way? I don't know. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. But I had to find out what it was, I couldn't just leave him be. i _I might be sensing innocence on him. What if he's an accommodator?_ /i I shook my head. i _It could just be the type of magic he uses._ /i

Either way, it didn't matter. What bothered me most was the fact that I felt something familiar about it but I just couldn't put my finger on it! I had originally planned to simply question him whenever I could - his fan girls are kinda scary, I wonder if Cross had that sort of entourage? - but this 'teams' thing made everything a lot easier. If only I could find a way to get him away from those girls... -

"i _Two million jewels_ /i?!"

"They'd pay i _that_ /i much for some stupid book?!"

"That's like 'fighting monsters' kind of pay!"

Was what I got the moment I opened the guild doors. Never had I walked into any room at such a (convenient?) time before. It was almost funny. But that had to wait. I had to figure out what was going on first. I walked up to the bar where stood the beautiful bar maid, a look of confusion on her face.

"What's going on?"

The Master of Fairy Tail - who took it upon him to answer for her - sat cross-legged on the bar, eyes closed and a staff perched in between his legs and arms, "'Seems the reward for the job your sister is going on raised exponentially."

"She took a job? But I left before her."

"Natsu and Happy chose it," said Mira, "They were hoping the four of you could go together once the team was established. Speaking of, why aren't you with them?"

All I found to give in response was a sheepish smile and a pathetically voiced answer, "I... wanted to get to know... more... people? Maybe?"

"Do you not get along with those two?" She asked, genuinely concerned.

"No! No! That's not it at all! They're fantastic! I just... wanted to broaden my connections a little more. To get used to the guild, y'know?" She gave me the sweetest smile. I had no idea models could be so... peachy(?).

"You made the right choice ditching those two," called an unfamiliar voice. The male drew my attention to the other side of the bar, where he sat shirtless, "Those idiots'll only get you into trouble, worst of all, the flame-for-brains's insanity might rub off on you. I'm sure you'll get plenty of other offers from other teams."

"That was... harsh," I muttered.

"Don't mind Gray, he doesn't actually mean it," Mira intervened, "They like to fight each other a lot, so they tend to see each other as rivals, that's all."

"Rivals, huh?" A certain pair that I know myself came flashing into my mind at that moment. What I didn't realize at the time was just how i _accurate_ /i my pair described their rivalry as well.

In less than a minute, a woman came sitting next to me. She was beautiful too, her hair was a pretty brown, wavy and let loose down her back. This woman, however, was wearing, what I could describe most cleanly as a blue bikini top, she wore pants at least. "You know, I think a cutie like you would make a good partner for me, what's your name newbie?"

"Paige Hear-" i _Lucy said no on the last name!_ /i "I- uh... Just Paige..."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, 'Just Paige'."

"Uh- no... I-I-um-" Why was my life so complicated?

The woman simply smiled at me before getting up, "My name's Cana, welcome to our guild. If ever your in a pickle and you need someone for job, I'll be right over there, a'right?" She said, pointing a thumb towards a large barrel. She had to've been the one chugging one down when I first joined. She winked at me before returning to her post under the whine/beer barrel.

I watched in awe as she chugged down yet another barrel, and these weren't small, she was barely able to fit her arms around it. "Looks like you're already getting along with the other members of our guild," Pointed out Mirajane. I smiled at her before excusing myself and headed to the request board.

 _Finding a treasure in the East Woods, making a potion to cure acne, fighting off Cave Vulcans that have been rampaging a village, reading someone's love horoscope..._ These were only a few of the requests posted on the board, but the number wasn't what shocks me most, but more their variety. People just ask wizards for anything, don't they?

"No, that one's no good either," muttered a male voice. I turned slightly. Next to me was a rather large man, wearing what seemed to be native tribe clothing (witch doctor?), he kept staring at the request board, looking for something.

I was about to ask him when someone suddenly interrupted my thoughts, "Leave 'I'm alone. The guy stares at that for hours without picking a job."

"Hey, I'm trying to find the perfect job that-"

"We've all heard it before Nab, why don't you just be a real man for once and pick somethin' without complaining about it!" This 'Nab' turned around and glared an instant at the white haired man man before turning back to his search. The man towered over once walked up to me, "You're the newbie, right?" He asked.

All I could do was nod in this situation (he was really big! ~). "Welcome to the guild," He boomed, "My name's Elfman. I heard you talking to Cana earlier, and if you go on a job with anyone it should be me! You need a real man to defend you!" I blinked a few times. While he continued on on his rant, my gaze suddenly shifted. There he was. Loke was sitting on a bench, two girls smuggled into his chest, his arms were wrapped around their backs. He seemed to be 'soothing' them (I hope you know what 'soothing' means in this case).

"Hey Elfman, why don't you just leave the girl alone already!" Called Cana from the end of the bar.

He turned around, "Why don't you go back to drinking your alcohol!"

"I'd rather drink knowing no ones harassing her!"

"Who says I'm harassing her?!"

" _I_ am!"

With that, the two started an argument of their own, which, I'm almost surprised, didn't become a brawl. Nonetheless, I went back to the bar - to avoid any more 'requests', if I can call it that - next to Gray, who now wore a shirt. I didn't know where it came from - or where it had gone in the first place - but at least he was clothed. "Your name's Gray, right?"he nodded in response, playing with his water. He seemed really concentrated on it for some reason. "I'm Paige, I'm new here."

"You're the blond's cousin, right? Lucy or something?"

"We're- sisters... actually," I said. He stuttered after that, staring at me a little perplexed, "I know we don't look a lot alike. A-Anyway, you called out to me earlier, something about staying away from Natsu?"

"Unless you want his stupidity to rub off on you, I suggest you do."

"Straight-forward, cool," I wanted to gag after saying that word, but 'blend in'; hopefully that would help around these parts, "Is there any real reason you don't like him?"

"Nah, I just hate his guts." His glass started get wet on the outsides as he played with it a little more. A strange mist started rising out of the water too. Before I knew it, I was lost in his water glass. The longer he played with the cup, sliding or turning it gently on the table, the whiter the mist got. Finally, the water level suddenly dropped the rose. There were suddenly three ice cubes in the water.

"How did you do that!" I asked, honestly excited.

"I use ice magic," he said, while doing so, he gave me a demonstration. One hand hovered over the other, and in between, he conjured two figures, a man and a woman. Like a music box, he made them twirl around each other. I watched amazed. It was so pretty! "You know, I'm normally more of a solo guy myself, but if you wanna be my partner, you're welcome to," he said.

I stared up at him a little shocked, and embarrassed at the same time. Feeling guilty, I smiled up at him sheepishly, "That sounds great, but I actually came here looking for someone in particular."

"Oh yeah, who?" To my great relief, he didn't seem at all offended.

I never got the time to answer. I didn't hear any footsteps when they came. They were discrete, and slow, which made things all the more difficult for me. I felt a warm pressure against my back as they leaned into the counter. _There's only one person who'd be willing to get this close to a stranger._ Sure enough, when I looked down at their arm, I immediately recognized the green sleeve of a coat. He leaned in closer until I felt his warm breath tickle my cheek. His lips were _very_ close to my ear, "You were looking for me, right?" He whispered. After a moment of processing what had just happened, I finally started, falling almost completely out of my chair. Luckily, Gray caught me on time.

There was that feeling again. I felt something weird against my back.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said while helping me stand upright. I didn't answer. I still couldn't. There was one thing I noticed though. His magic energy was really weak. So what could possibly have been bothering me about him? "I saw you looking my way earlier," He said, in his signature flirt, "I take it you'd like to make a team of love with me, later tonight?"

I blinked a few times, then shook my head. He chuckled. "I wanna go on a real job," I said, shocked at how quiet it came out. I gestured to the request board.

He smiled, albeit flirtatiously. "Fine, a relationship's gotta start somewhere, right?" He winked before heading off to the board.

I was about to follow before someone stopped me by grabbing my arm, "You really wanna go on a job with _him_?" Gray asked, almost concerned, "He doesn't seem like your type."

"My type?"

"The only reason girls hang out with him is because they've fallen for him. Sure, he's got great charms and all, but you don't seem like the type to fall for a flirt."

"I didn't," I answered. He was pretty, true, but the thought of liking him had never crossed my mind.

He let go of my arm, "All right, do you want," He said defeated. I smiled at him. It was nice to know someone was already worrying about me. I turned around and followed Loke to the request board. He turned to look at me, a paper in his hand. I wasn't even really close to him yet.

"This should be simple enough for a first job," He called out playfully, "Plus I know a perfect place in this area where we could have a nice dinner. How does that sound?" I skipped up to him, the familiar clinking of my gate keys at my side rang as I bounced gently.

I took the paper from him and read it over. The job was to find a staff someone had lost in a cave. He was a wizard, actually. The paper mentioned that without his staff, he couldn't perform magic, hence why he couldn't go down to get it himself. "This is a pretty good start, when do you wanna go?" He didn't answer me. I looked up at him. He was distracted all of a sudden. I doubt he had even heard me. His gaze had drifted to my waist, where my keys dangled on their ring.

He went suddenly pale - paler than normal at least - a few sweat drops rolled down the frame of his face, "Are those... Celestial Gate keys?" He asked wearily.

I looked down at my waist. I had actually almost forgotten they were there, "Yeah, why?"

"So... you're a-" He swallowed, "Celestial wizard?"

I looked up at him curiously, "Is something wrong?"

At that moment, he backed up, almost in a run, until he bumped into one of the tables that blocked his path. He was panting- actually more like hyperventilating. Through his shades, his eyes only read fear. I tensed a bit myself. _What's the matter with him?_ Neither of us moved from our spots. _Is he... afraid of me?_ I was so confused. What was it about me he could possibly be afraid of?

 _"So... you're a-... Celestial Wizard?"_ It's not me he was afraid of, but the fact that I was a... Celestial wizard...

I looked down at my own set of keys. _What's the use of leaving these behind if he already knows?_ If only I'd known sooner of his fear. I could've avoided this whole mess. I set a hand on my set and looked up at him. He was still frozen in his place. _I guess it's worth a try. It might just be the spirits themselves that he's afraid of._ I looked up at him and sent him a reassuring smile. "I'll be back, okay?" He didn't seem too pleased about that, but I left anyway, knowing I wouldn't go back on that promise.

Natsu, Lucy and Happy had already left when I got back. It was probably for the best anyway. I didn't want Lucy knowing I left my keys behind. Of course, if she came back home before me, she'd no doubt find out. I didn't try to hide them. I placed them on her desk and almost left. _What if someone broke in and stole them?_ I couldn't risk that, so I put them in her desk drawer instead.

Once safely in the wooden table, I went out to head back for the guild. I ran back this time. Hopefully, he hadn't run off to avoid me. Hopefully. Although it didn't seem to likely that he would, when I got back, he was still there. He and Gray were talking, he didn't seem too happy to. They stopped there conversation when they heard the guild doors screech open, when I'd gone in. I walked up to then, but stopping a good ten feet away when seeing Loke inch back into the table the moment I started towards him.

I took out the request paper and held it out, "Would you like to come with me? I left my keys at home," I said, steering it towards 'reassuring'. He widened his eyes and stared at me like I was crazy. I felt like that was a bit strong of a reaction, but who could possibly know what was going through his head?

Gray whispered something to him, and in response he looked at the ground, still shocked. He scrunched his eyebrows together and shook his head. Gray seemed confused. As much as I wanted to go up to him and ask what was wrong, I didn't want to go near him either, not until he trusted me.

I kept my distance a little while longer when Gray, seeming to have had enough, stepped forward, snatched the job request out of my hand before turning me around and pulling me toward the exit of the guild! Confused as broken bookcase, all I could do was stare at his back (which was once again shirtless) as he pulled me away from whom I _needed_ to work with. "H-Hold on, where are we going?"

"We're making a little stop so you could get your keys back before we head for this job," he stated.

"You and me?"

"Yup, your playboy there won't be doing anything with a Celestial Wizard anytime soon, so don't even bother trying to get his attention."

I looked down towards the wooden flooring, _Maybe I_ should _stop thinking about work. I came here for Lucy after all, I shouldn't get caught up in these things anymore-_

"Wait." The voice was sort of quiet, but Gray and I heard it nonetheless. We looked back at Loke. It seemed obvious he was already regretting stopping us. His eyes though, were almost sad. He averted my gaze. "I-" he closed his mouth and eyes before taking a deep breath, "I'm c-coming with you."

...

In any normal circumstance, I would've probably smiled at him and had no problem with him coming along. But with the scene he made, I was a little too surprised to react at all.

...

"Did I hear what I think I heard?"

"If we're thinking the same thing, you probably did."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

His offence to our comments caused us to burst out laughing while he stared at us flustered. He was really annoyed, I felt bad, but it was really funny! I couldn't help myself. When I finally managed to calm down, I looked up at him. He was truly annoyed, which made heart clench in my chest. I hadn't meant to offend him. I looked up at him sadly, then asked, "You read the job request, right?" He took a moment before nodding, "Then let's go."

I turned around to head for the guild doors without taking a look back. If he wanted to follow me, he could, otherwise, I'd go with Gray. First mission as a wizard, I shouldn't have been worrying about who's what. But I did anyway. I just couldn't get it out of my head. When did I become so uptight?

About a block up the path, I finally heard Gray yell out my name. I stopped and turned around. I was glad to see the red-head walking next to him, but his head was low, his bangs covering his eyes. With his hands in his pockets, he took heavy steps next to his friend. It made me doubt whether it was really _his_ choice in the end. Gray, on the other hand, walked, shirtless, a triumphant grin on his (FAR different than Natsu's). "Wait up for us!" He called. Loke, discreetly, opposed to the idea, but out out loud. It was enough for me to notice. So instead of waiting, I started to walk backwards. I lifted up my right hand, the back facing the guys, pointing out with my second finger and thumb. For a moment, I worried that I made the wrong symbol, but was quickly relieved when Gray nodded, and lifted his arm in turn to send the same back. I turned around and continued walking towards the train station.

√ ∂ ∆ *_..._* ∆ ß √

"Thank you for taking my request, Fairy Tail." The house, or rather, the mansion we found ourselves in was impressively luxurious, worthy of a noble in England. Our client had us seated on a couch, where Loke and I sat at completely opposite sides. Gray decided to stand. I could practically feel him rolling his eyes.

"So for the request, you wanted us to find-"

"My staff, yes." He interrupted. Loke recoiled slightly. It was rather rude of him to cut him off like that, but he was obviously on edge. The man looked away, his hands clamped together on his thighs. "Please, I've never been without my staff."

I smiled at him and nodded, "Of course, we understand, we'll be back with it soon enough I promise," I reassured him. And with a final wish of good luck, the three of us left to get to find the cave.

"The request said that the cave was actually an underwater cavern, and the entrance was on the shore." I said, with the paper out just to make sure I wasn't wrong.

"Really? Well, that makes things a lot easier," said Gray, who peered over my shoulder to get a good look at the paper. I was feeling uncomfortable in those moments, and not because Gray's bare chest was almost pressed against my back, but simply because he was walking with me.

I looked over my shoulder. A few feet behind us was Loke, who was only staring at his feet as he followed us, "You sure it's okay to leave him alone? I don't mind walking up front if you want to keep him company."

"Nah, leave 'im. He's a big boy, I'm sure he can handle himself." Gray's voice was quiet when he said that.

"Are you worried about him?" I asked.

He shook his head, "No, actually I'm pretty pissed at him," When seeing my confusion, Gray decided to continue, "It's not like him to just ignore someone completely, especially not girls. That punk could make a little more effort into getting to know you better. So what if your a Celestial wizard, big deal! He's being a jerk just 'cause of that? It's a jack-ass move and he knows it. He's not only causing trouble for himself, but to you too."

I looked up and smiled at Gray, who was looking out the other way - a little flustered, actually. _He's definitely worried about him,_ I mused. The raven-haired boy then looked back down at me, "What are you smiling about?"

I giggled quietly, "Nothing."

He tackled at me for a while after that. I kept laughing and insisting it was nothing. The more he flustered over it, the more I laughed. Everyone at Fairy Tail got embarrassed so easily! Well, it wasn't all that different back home, but they're just so funny because they let it all out. Yeah, being part of something else was really interesting, so far. When Gray finally gave up, I took the opportunity to look back at our follower. He'd loosened up a bit, at least. His shoulders were less tight, and if you looked close enough, he was actually smiling, just a little bit. It was mostly hidden since he stared down at the ground. Seeing him even a little better brought me great relief.

Loke suddenly looked up at me, and I looked away quickly, back to the road. I sighed, _That was close..._

√ ∂ ∆ *_..._* ∆ ß √

"Well that was easy," I stated.

The reason why I said that is quite simple, really. Once we reached the rocky shore - with a beautiful view of the ocean, by the way - it only took us about five minutes to find the cavern.

"It's huge!" And Gray's remark was not _in_ accurate considering its impressive height as it towered about ten feet above us.

"I wonder what could be living inside of that?" I asked.

"The real question is; how big is it?" Rather than responding to the question, I sort of jumped in surprised, since it wasn't asked by Gray, but rather the red-head who now stood next to me, although a couple of feet away. Much closer than his couple dozen. I didn't argue. The closer the better. Although he stood tall and firm as he looked up at the immense hole, I could clearly see his fists at his side, clenched and shaking. I pretended not to notice.

I hopped up on one of the bigger rocks in front of them, and looked down at the boys playfully, "Well, men, ready to go?" It didn't take much convincing, it was our job after all. And besides, who _wouldn't_ blindly step into a giant monster-sized dark cave at the side of an ocean?

But I suddenly remembered something. _I left my keys at home..._ I reached a hand for the side of my waist, just to double check. _That means I'm completely defenceless if I don't want to activate my Dark Boots_. I looked down at the ground and stared at it intensely. Either way, I'd be useless. If I did have my keys, I'd just be making the spirits do _my_ dirty work. I wouldn't even be able to _help_ them. I dropped my hand so it swung normally at my side. Keys or no keys, I wasn't safe, and I wouldn't be able to help anyone.

The cave only got damper the farther in we went, the air got thicker, and my shoes and socks were wet from walking through numerous puddles along the way. I jumped up when I met with another rather deep hole in the ground. The guys asked me, yet again, if I was all right, and again, I replied with a low 'yes'. It was getting odd though, do caves normally have this many holes?

Before long, we found ourselves at a dead-end, or at least what felt like a dead-end. Everything after where we stood was all pitch-black darkness. Whether there was a path, a fork or a bottomless pit, we couldn't tell. At least, I couldn't. Loke pointed out that it was, in fact, a single path, and it got darker because it inclined more steeply compared to the path so far, and the cavern walls were tighter than the rest of the hall.

"Well, should we go for it?" asked Gray, but he already knew the answer.

"No staff, no exit," retorted Loke. He took the lead and headed down the darkness, but he suddenly stopped, putting his arm out to block the both of us. (I bumped into it accidentally and he shivered...). Gray and I looked up at him expectantly. And then, our attention was brought toward a small noise.

 _Tap_

 _Tap_

 _Tap_

As the noise grew louder, we took more and more uncertain steps back. I could feel a suffocating feeling bubbling in my chest. Whatever was coming had a lot of magic energy. With the already damp air, it was getting a little hard to breath. To anyone else, it would've sounded like I was afraid. I might've been afraid too, though.

Eventually, even the guys got nervous. Loke's hand hovered over the ring on his other. Gray bent down, his fist in the palm of his hand. Finally, the creature stepped into the light. But from staring up at the ceiling, we all had to bring our heads down. Out from the shadows came a little blue tortoise with an orange shell. The little thing was no bigger than a stool, and it made the most adorable sound as it yawned.

I stepped up to it and crouched down. In an instant, it stuck its body in its shell and hid. I giggled then went down to hands and knees, "This little guy's too cute to be dangerous."

"It's not safe to judge things by their looks around here, I'd be a little more careful if I were you," warned Loke. His voice was weary as he said that.

I decided not to heed his warning, not for a little turtle like this one. I kept smiling down at it instead. The tortoise peeked out of its shell and looked up at me. I sat on my knees and offered it my hand, gently. It looked up. Slowly, it stuck out all of its limbs and stood up. It approached my hand carefully, before putting its head under it. I started stroking it gently, and once it warmed up to me enough, it crawled into my lap and hid in its shell again.

Gray stooped down next to me and smiled at the tortoise too, "Maybe this little guy's not so bad after all." I shook my head gently.

"Let go of that, now."

My gaze hardened before looking back up at my parka-wearing friend. But my gaze softened when I saw his face. He looked _extremely_ anxious. He could only stare out at the darkness of the path.

"Chill out, man, what's wrong with you?" scoffed Gray.

I looked up at him worriedly, "Loke... what's wrong?"

He clenched his fists and hardened his gaze, but never looked down at me.

"You're not getting another one of your bad feelings, are you?" Gray asked. _'Bad feelings?'_

He didn't answer, but instead took action. He quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me up to my feet forcefully, making the little tortoise fall to the ground and cry out. He then pulled me toward the exit rather than the way we were going. His grip was tight, and it also burned! It didn't make any sense, how could his hand be so hot? I looked back, the baby tortoise was staring at me pleadingly and kept crying out. But something bigger rang over its little voice. _A roar?!_

I stared at the hole as we ran. I only turned back around when Loke let go of my wrist. A loud thud! resonated when he fell to the ground. He had tripped over one of those holes! "Loke!" I cried out. I crouched down, but he got up on his knees on his own. "Are you okay?" I asked. For a few seconds, we locked gazes. He turned away quickly and nodded. He then took my hand again - which burned again - and was about to stand.

However he froze. I turned around and that's when I saw it. Coming at us at full speed was a large blue spiralling pillar of what could only be water. It was coming at us at such a force and speed, there was no way of avoiding it. Unless...

I ripped my hand out of his, but then dove toward his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Innocence ac-"

 _"Ice-Make Shield!"_

I didn't get to activate my Innocence, my shock and curiosity got the best of me. But we didn't get hit by anything. No blasts, no blows. I craned my neck back, enough to see what protected us. What stood was a translucent-white wall that blocked the blast. _Ice._

"You guys all right?" asked the caster of the wall. I looked up at our raven-haired friend and nodded. Then I looked back down with sad eyes. _I'm not helping anyone like this,_ I thought. I was snapped out when something warm settled on my back. And then I realized that I was still holding onto Loke, and he was holding me back.

I felt prickling pins and needles all over my body. And I was hot too. But by touch, he actually felt _normal_. But whenever we touched, it was as if he left a residual. Something definitely wasn't normal about him. 

But there was no time to worry about that. First, I had to worry about what attacked us. And I quickly found out when it stood, practically towering over us. That creature was almost the height of the ceiling, and no where near as cute as its baby. What hovered over us was a giant tortoise, much much bigger than the little one I had seen earlier, and with many more wrinkles. Worse than that, it was glaring down at us with almost demon-like red eyes. It was not happy.

With one stomp, it shattered the ice wall and sent us all flying and crashing against the walls. I cried out when I landed and quickly went to holding my side. I hadn't realized that I was that badly hurt by the Vulcan! The ground started to shake in shock waves of tremors. It was coming. I looked up, but wincing at the pain as I moved. The giant tortoise already lifted its leg, hovering over my small motionless body. And all I could do was stare at it in pain. _This again? Only yesterday, I was about to be split in half by a giant axe, and today I'm about to be squashed by a giant._

I closed my eyes and waited for the blow. However, nothing came down. Instead, I started feeling really cold. And finally, a loud roar erupted from above. When I opened my eyes, I saw Gray standing over me, hands over his head, and pellets of white rained down around him. It was beautiful like snow. But I looked passed him, and saw the monster collapse onto the ground, a wound freshly carved into the bottom of its leg.

Gray came next to me and helped me sit up. I breathed sharply as I shifted upwards, but tried keeping the throbbing to a minimum. Suppressing it was my best bet so far. The tortoise stumble and cried out as it tried to simply stand.

Once I ripped my attention from it, I looked up and around the cave. Loke was nowhere to be seen. But I could here his voice; "Get back!" He kept calling. I looked around a little more carefully, until I pinpointed his voice. His voice was coming from near us, or far, but from under the monster. Somehow, he'd manage to slip passed it and stand on the other side. Once Gray realized the same, he pulled me up to my feet and started dragging me the other way.

I looked back nervously, "What about Loke?!"

"He's fine!" Gray stated, stopping a fair distance away, "Let him do his thing and that monster'll be down for the count."

 _His thing?_ I watched anxiously at the tortoise as it kept tripping over himself. He was on the other side of that thing, if it was knocked out, he'd be trapped on the other side!

A draft started to pick up in the cave. The draft quickly turned into strong winds that blew my hair up, and then they became even stronger until suddenly forming under the tortoise as a huge twister! It lifted up into the air and spun it into the rocky ceiling. Just by the impact, the tortoise was knocked out, but there was no way that he'd make it back to our side before it landed on the ground.

There was only one way he might be able to make it out in time. So I broke off of Gray and ran toward the dissipating tornado, ignoring all of Gray's protests. Once I got close enough I activated my dark boots slipped under the tortoise and to the other side in a flash. I took a hold of Loke's arm - he was suddenly confused since he didn't see me coming - and I looked back, but it was too late. The giant had already collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The only way out now was to get over it, which for anyone who couldn't fly.

I deactivated my innocence before Loke could notice them and let go of his arm. I turned around and slowly started walking toward the dark inclining tunnel.

"How did you do that?" Said Loke in a shaky voice.

"Do what?" I asked. Obviously, I didn't want him to know who I was.

"You know what I mean. How did you get passed that thing so quickly?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about-"

"Paige! Knock it off!" The force of his voice startle me, making me turn around in a swift movement. Loke glared down at me, and from him, it was truly intimidating. I clenched my fists. For the first time _I_ was afraid of _him_. He walked up to me until there was only a few centimetres between us, his gaze never ceasing its intensity. "Are you really _only_ a Celestial wizard?"

I stared at him blankly. I don't know how long we stared at each other in silence before I actually answered, "Celestial magic is the only magic I use as a wizard." After that, I took a step back and turned on the heels of my feet to walk back down the cavern.

I took a few deep breaths as I walked ahead in quick steps. At the Black Order, I always had someone to help me. But here, at Fairy Tail, where no one knew who I was, I was completely alone. Not even Lucy could help me, all she had to do was not mention the fact that I'm an exorcist, and that'd be simple enough. But I felt I couldn't completely be myself here. If I wanted to stay without endangering anyone, I'd have to find a way to take care of myself. I had to mature.

The tunnel was completely pitch black all the way through. And it was long too. But once at the bottom, I entered a new larger chamber. It was majestic, so large and spacious, but what made it beautiful were the floating blue lights. I was kind of surprised I couldn't see the light on the way down. I ran to the middle before looking around in complete awe. The blue lights just made everything so pretty. They all varied in size, some were as large as a head while other were as small as fireflies.

"Water droplets." I shot my gaze up. Loke slowly stepped out of the darkness, and looking down at me with a sad smile. "That tortoise earlier used water magic. That's how it blasted that water at us earlier." He walked up to one of the lights, and with his finger tapped on it gently. It quickly burst and splattered in rivulets against the ground. I tried the same myself. The water was cold.

Loke walked down toward me, and then passed me. With my eyes, I followed him, when I finally realized what he was heading for. This cavern was the dead end of the cave, but right against the wall was a to halves of a wooden staff. Loke picked them up and came back to me.

"Shall we go?" He asked, taking on his flirtatious voice. I was about to nod when I suddenly felt something against my ankle. I looked down, and rubbing against it was the little baby tortoise from earlier. It looked up at me with a smile.

I crouched down and pat its head. "Hey there, how'd you get around without me seeing you?" Having asked that, I noticed a large hole next to it. "So that's why there are so many holes here. You hide in them when your mom gets attacked, don't you?" I stroked its head more gently, smiling down at it, "But why do people come down here so often?"

Loke had eventually crouched next to me too. Our legs were touching, and it burned, "Actually," he started, "I didn't notice something back at the guild. One of the requests mentioned a huge bounty for whoever kills that thing."

"But why would they do that? She's not causing any trouble, is she? Wouldn't we have heard more about it if she were?"

"Dunno. Maybe the shell's worth a fortune."

 _Killing things that have done no harm, some people in this wold really are cruel..._

Loke stood up and suggested we leave to claim our reward money, but I stopped him by grabbing his wrist. It pricked so much at the palm of my hand. _He may not be an akuma, but there's definitely something off about him._ I knew by stopping to ask him at that moment would be overstepping my boundaries. But at that point, that off-feeling was wrenching away at my lungs, and I couldn't take it much longer, "Loke... if something's wrong, you know you can talk to someone about it. If not me, than even someone at Fairy Tail," Instead of confusion - which I originally expected from him - his eyes darkened to a mix of fear and anger, but I looked up at him, right in the eyes, "Loke... you're not human, are you?"

Loke suddenly ripped his arm of my grasp. He glared at me with the most menacing look before storming out before disappearing through the darkness of the cavern tunnels.

 _I blew it..._


End file.
